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How much are we spending on the state’s homelessness crisis? Where is that money going? And, is it helping?

Those are the questions Assemblymember David Chiu, D-San Francisco, hopes to answer with a new bill introduced Tuesday. Assembly Bill 2329 would mandate an analysis of all homelessness programs throughout California, as a way to determine whether existing funds are being spent effectively, and what more needs to be done. The ultimate goal is to use that data to create a statewide plan to fight homelessness.

“With over 151,000 Californians experiencing homelessness every night, we are in desperate need of a data-driven, targeted plan to address the moral crisis of our day,” Chiu wrote in a news release. “We need to ensure that limited public funding goes towards solutions that make the biggest impact as well as understand what it will take to end homelessness.”

If the bill passes, the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council — the state agency created in 2017 to oversee California’s efforts to fight homelessness — must file its report to the legislature by July 31, 2021. The council also would track the number of people landing on the street after exiting state-funded institutions such as the criminal justice and foster care systems.

Chiu’s bill comes as the state and local governments are ramping up their spending on homelessness, but the number of people on the street continues to rise. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently proposed spending more than $1 billion on homelessness in his 2020-21 budget, including $750 million to build housing for the homeless and help prevent struggling families from ending up on the streets. His last budget also included about $1 billion to fight homelessness — including $650 million for cities and counties.

Meanwhile, the crisis keeps getting worse. The homeless population grew by 42% between 2017 and 2019 in San Jose, and by 47% in Oakland, according to those cities’ point-in-time counts. Statewide, it grew by 16% between 2018 and 2019.

Last week, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said the governor’s most recent proposed budget “does not present a clear path for how the state will address homelessness.”

“In the absence of a clear strategy, the Governor’s proposed approach is less likely to make a meaningful ongoing impact on the state’s homelessness crisis,” the office wrote in a report released Feb. 11. “We urge the Legislature to develop a strategy for addressing this complex challenge.”

That’s what Chiu hopes to accomplish with his bill.

Sharon Cornu, executive director of St. Mary’s Center, which runs an emergency homeless shelter in Oakland, is interested to see how a bill like AB 2329 could help funnel resources to programs that have proven effective.

“I think what’s important about it is not just the accountability, but the outcome-based approach, and looking at solutions that result in the outcomes that we want,” she said. “So, for example, trending away from just shelter to making sure that people have services to become and remain housed.”

But in order for the audit to work, the state will have to accurately account for all programs that help the homeless — including those run by nonprofits and faith-based organizations, which Cornu expects will be a challenge to track.

AB 2329 will help the legislature, governor and administration determine how resources should be targeted to achieve their maximum potential, according to Sharon Rapport, California policy director for the national nonprofit Corporation for Supportive Housing, which co-sponsors the bill.

“The State needs better data on where our gaps exist,” Rapport wrote in a news release, “and what it will take to change the trajectory on homelessness.”