Homelessness: single women with children.

Assembly Member Ávila Farías, with Coauthor Assembly Member Celeste Rodriguez, advances a measure that broadens the scope of homelessness policy to explicitly include women with children within families, alongside domestic violence survivors and unaccompanied women, while tying the expanded population to structured, data-informed planning and public accountability through the Interagency Council on Homelessness. The proposal seeks to ensure that planning and oversight reflect this broader demographic and that analyses and goals are accessible to the public through state channels.

The measure amends the Welfare and Institutions Code to (a) require cities, counties, and continuums of care receiving state homelessness funding to include families, including women with children, among the vulnerable populations for whom targeted supports are developed; (b) mandate local analyses and goals developed with victim service providers using data measures not contained in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), in line with federal policies and guidelines; and (c) obligate local entities to transmit those analyses and goals to the Interagency Council on Homelessness, which must post the information on its website. The analyses must incorporate victim service provider data, address the nexus of homelessness and justice involvement for women and DV survivors, and disaggregate the number of beds provided by victim service providers within the jurisdiction. The Interagency Council on Homelessness is charged with setting and measuring progress toward measurable goals for these populations, defining outcome measures, and, when funding is available, providing technical assistance to localities and coordinating with HUD. Initial goals are due by January 1, 2025, with evaluation at least every two years.

Implementation and fiscal considerations are framed around a potential state-mandated local program, with reimbursement to local agencies for costs deemed mandated if the Commission on State Mandates determines such costs exist; the bill does not specify an appropriation, and technical assistance to localities would be provided “when funding is available.” Public posting requirements by the Interagency Council on Homelessness enhance transparency, while the data governance implications include a requirement for non-HMIS data and bed-disaggregation, without detailed standards or privacy protections in the text. The measure thus relies on implementing regulations to address data governance and compliance timelines and creates a pathway for local agencies to coordinate with victim service providers and the central council under a structured, recurring evaluation framework.