California Launches Three-Year Action Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness

New plan establishes five key goals for the state and strengthens accountability

SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH) today unveiled its 2025-2027 Statewide Action Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, a bold and data-

driven roadmap to address one of the state’s most urgent crises. This three-year plan sets goals for the state and helps advance the state’s work to  strengthen accountability for local governments receiving state funds.

“I applaud Cal ICH’s work in developing this Action Plan,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “It is not just a report of our historic investments, but a directive for continued accountability and action towards specific quantifiable goals.”

“This is a defining moment,” said Tomiquia Moss, Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency (BCSHA) Secretary and Cal ICH Co-Chair. “We are doubling down on accountability, partnerships, and solutions that work. Together, we will make a lasting impact.”

“This Action Plan outlines clear goals to help the state effectively tackle homelessness. To accomplish these goals, we must continue to keep those we serve at the center of all our work,” said Kim Johnson, Health and Human Services Agency Secretary and Cal ICH Co-Chair. “This means actively listening to those with lived experience and using data to drive action with a laser focus on integrating housing, health, and human services so that in a moment of crisis, an individual or family does not need to navigate their way through multiple systems to get the help they need. It also means as a state, we must continue to tackle the upstream need for more affordable housing statewide.”

“California has made historic investments to combat homelessness, but to truly drive progress, we need accountability that demands results, for the state and our local partners” said Meghan Marshall, Cal ICH Executive Officer. “This plan is a commitment to measurable outcomes and shared responsibility, ensuring that every dollar spent brings us closer to a future where homelessness is rare, brief, and one-time.”

Five Goals to Drive Impact

The 2025-2027 Action Plan establishes five interconnected goals aimed at reducing homelessness and ensuring more Californians have access to stable housing:

1. Help more people leave unsheltered homelessness
2. Help more people move into housing
3. Ensure people do not experience homelessness again
4. Prevent more people from experiencing homelessness
5. Create more housing

California’s Commitment to Action

With $40 billion invested in housing and $27 billion in provided to communities to prevent and end homelessness, California has committed unprecedented resources to this issue. The 2025-2027 Action Plan builds on these investments, ensuring every effort is strategic, measurable, and results oriented.

Accountability for All

Reflecting the priorities of Californians, the first goal of the Action Plan is to help more people leave unsheltered homelessness, underscoring shared commitment to moving individuals off the streets and into stable housing. All the goals move towards the desired outcome of creating more housing to ensure Californians all have a place to call home.

Governor Gavin Newsom has emphasized the need for accountability across all levels of government in addressing homelessness. New accountability measures in programs such as the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s (HCD) Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) will ensure that communities receiving financial support demonstrate tangible progress in housing placements, service delivery, and long-term stability for people transitioning out of homelessness. These include an increased focus on resolving encampments, requirements that recipients have a compliant housing element to obtain future funding, and requirements that grantees obligate and expend past awards before receiving new funds. These strengthened measures will better ensure real, measurable results and will improve the tracking of data and outcomes.

As part of the proposed 2025-2026 budget, the Governor has called for even stronger accountability measures as a condition on any additional state funding, including requirements that grantees have and maintain a compliant housing element, prioritization for communities designated as “pro-housing,” and mechanisms to claw back funding from local governments that fail to demonstrate progress.

“California is investing in solutions, and local jurisdictions must be accountable for delivering real results,” said Gustavo Velasquez, HCD Director and Cal ICH councilmember. “This plan is about ensuring successful outcomes. For communities to receive continued support, they must show measurable progress in reducing homelessness.”

A Data-Drive, Equity-Centered Approach

The 2025-2027 Action Plan leverages statewide homelessness data to drive decision-making, monitor progress, and address racial disparities in homelessness. The plan emphasizes housing-first solutions, coordination among state and local agencies, and embedding racial equity into every strategy to ensure that historically marginalized communities receive targeted support.

For more information and to access the full 2025-2027 Action Plan, visit Statewide Action Plan for Preventing and Ending Homelessness – California Interagency Council on Homelessness.