This week in affordable housing news…:

State Update:

• Is housing health care? California policymakers certainly think so, according to a KFF Health News story this week showcasing the national trend toward using federal Medicaid dollars to provide housing to vulnerable populations. California has embraced this approach on a scale larger than any other state—launching a massive CalAIM initiative in 2022 that allows health plans to be reimbursed through Medi-Cal when they connect beneficiaries with housing services. Governor Newsom maintained steady support for the program in his January budget, proposing to spend $2.4 billion on CalAIM this year—paired with as much as $200 million over the next several years to provide rent supports or temporary housing to eligible groups. “I do not think that health care is responsible for solving homelessness in California or anywhere else,” says Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of the state’s Health and Human Services Agency. “But if housing instability or lack of housing is one of the key drivers getting in the way of being healthy, then absolutely we need to pay attention to it.”

• With legal challenges creating uncertainty around the state’s Homekey program, CalMatters reported this week that California’s other major COVID-era housing initiative, Project Roomkey, is now facing serious issues of its own, as the federal government backtracks on covering the full cost of the program. Governor Newsom launched Project Roomkey in the spring of 2020 as an emergency measure to get thousands of homeless residents into hotels, counting on a pledge from FEMA to cover the bulk of the program’s costs. FEMA is now disputing as much as $300 million of those charges, saying it won’t pay for hotel stays that lasted longer than 20 days after June 2021. This has left local governments scrambling for funding—and caused California officials to push back. “California is committed to maximizing federal aid to local communities and intends to aggressively advocate for FEMA to rescind the decision to deny public assistance to local governments,” says Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

ICYMI – Top news stories: 

EDITORIAL: Here’s how Los Angeles can help prevent people from falling into homelessness
Los Angeles Times
There’s no question that Los Angeles needs more permanent housing for people who are already homeless. That is the city’s and county’s main responsibility and should receive the most funding from resources dedicated to ending homelessness. But without more homelessness prevention, waves of people will continue to end up on the streets, replacing those who move into housing and leaving Los Angeles always a step behind in grappling with this crisis. It is imperative to catch people before they fall into homelessness. Even as L.A. County has made more than 20,000 permanent housing placements annually from 2020 to 2022, the unhoused population has gone up steadily from 52,765 in 2018 to 75,518 in 2023.

How the city of Sacramento found a solution to California’s affordable housing crisis
San Francisco Chronicle
Don’t look now, but Sacramento is solving the affordable housing crisis. No, I’m not talking about state Sen. Scott Wiener and the important progress happening at the state Capitol. I mean the city of Sacramento, where a deliberate effort to stoke a dense, infill housing boom is creating affordability before our eyes. Rents in Sacramento are falling faster than any other large city in California even as it remains the most popular relocation destination in the country. The median rent is approximately half San Francisco’s. Unlike other cities, that decline has nothing to do with an exodus. Instead, this affordability comes from a deliberate choice by city leaders to pursue a “more of everything” housing strategy.

Legislators fight proposed California utility fees
CalMatters
California’s big utilities promise that a proposed “fixed charge” on energy bills—specifically a fee based on a ratepayers income—would help make electricity more affordable for low-income families. But now Democratic lawmakers are joining Republicans in saying that the move is unfair to their constituents and will set back energy conservation. Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin of Thousand Oaks, joined by a handful lawmakers including Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, announced legislation this week to roll back the fixed charge mandate, calling it “impractical.” Said Irwin: “Electricity rates have skyrocketed throughout the state…. Our constituents have had enough and so have we. It’s time to put some reasoning back into how we charge for electricity in California.”