UPDATE: FRESNO, CA – Mayor Jerry Dyer announced Tuesday that the City of Fresno has received an award letter from the State of California for the City’s remaining Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Round 3 (HHAP-3) funds. As a result of this award, the City will receive $6,019,405.72 within the next 30 days.
The decision to release funds to the City of Fresno came after Mayor Dyer and several other California mayors met with Governor Gavin Newsom last Friday, where Dyer outlined Fresno’s efforts to address homelessness.
In the meeting Friday, Governor Newsom commended the action taken in Fresno. He said Mayor Dyer is the “perfect example of a working partner” in these efforts.
“In Fresno, we continue to make housing the homeless a primary priority. We have mapped out a sustainable and attainable plan that is results-driven. Together with our partners, we have seen dramatic progress – especially by housing those previously on our freeways. The Governor is aware of the strides we are making, and we are grateful to have these funds reinstated and available to continue our work,” said Mayor Dyer.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Nov. 18, 2022 — California Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed to release $1 billion in state homelessness funding he testily put on pause earlier this month, but only if local governments agree to step up the aggressiveness of their plans going forward to reduce the number of unhoused people in the state.
The Democratic governor said his afternoon meeting Friday with about 100 mayors and local officials in person and virtually was productive, with leaders getting on the same page about what needs to be done and willing to step up on their goals.
“It was nice to hear their progress. And it was nice to hear their recognition that we have to get to another level,” he said to reporters after the two-hour plus meeting. “What I want to see is what everybody wants to see: the streets of California cleaned up. We want to see encampments cleaned up, we want to see people housed.”
Newsom, who coasted to reelection this month, is on the hook in his second term to show reductions in the growing number of unhoused individuals, some of whom camp out along city sidewalks and under highway underpasses, exasperating even the most politically liberal voters in the country’s most populous state.
