North Sacramento Today

On Saturday, Assemblyman Josh Hoover (R-Folsom) announced the legislative passage of Assembly Bill 2903. This bill mandates state-run homelessness programs to report cost and outcome data annually to the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH). The ICH will also be responsible for developing procedures to collect and publicly report this data. The bill has now moved to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk after receiving unanimous bipartisan support in both the Senate and Assembly.

Assemblyman Hoover stated, “The State Auditor has made it clear what needs to change in our state’s approach to homelessness. Improving accountability over the dollars we are spending is the first step toward real reform. Spending billions of taxpayer dollars only to make the crisis worse is the definition of failure. I urge Governor Newsom to sign this bill and set California on a better path forward.”

AB 2903 follows recommendations from a recent audit by the California State Auditor, which was requested by Hoover himself. The audit revealed that California has not systematically tracked homelessness spending nor effectively collected data or assessed outcomes.

The Auditor's report highlighted that since 2018, nearly $24 billion have been spent by California on addressing homelessness, yet during this period, the state's homeless population increased by 32 percent. Additionally, half of the nation's unsheltered homeless reside in California.

Josh Hoover represents Assembly District 7, covering cities such as Citrus Heights, Folsom, Rancho Cordova, and several unincorporated communities including Carmichael and Fair Oaks.