LOS ANGELES – Governor Gavin Newsom this week signed SB 1500, which was introduced by Senator Maria Elena Durazo and sponsored by Mayor Bass to lead to Angelenos coming inside faster. The bill will give housing providers the certainty they need to take advantage of the federal presumptive eligibility waivers that Mayor Bass secured from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in August of 2023.
“I am grateful to Senator Durazo for her fearless leadership and persistence as well as Governor Newsom for locking arms with us on this critical issue,” said Mayor Bass. “This bill will build upon our efforts to prevent people from languishing on the streets while collecting paperwork to prove income and will protect housing providers from potential state penalties when they use federal self-certification authority. Together, we will continue our urgent efforts to bring Angelenos off the streets and into housing, and rebuild broken systems that stand in our way as we urgently confront the homelessness crisis.”
“I thank the Governor for signing into law another tool that my home city of Los Angeles needs to address homelessness. SB 1500 changes statutory guidelines for HCD and TCAC to reduce barriers for individuals experiencing homelessness to connect with housing providers to receive permanent housing and help less people be without housing” said Senator Durazo, State Senator for the 26th Senate District.
SB 1500 provides statutory guidelines to various state programs to reduce barriers to permanent housing for unhoused people. For years, people experiencing homelessness needed to prove their income, Social Security, disability and other factors in order to enter permanent housing. After successful advocacy by Mayor Bass, in 2023, the Department of Housing and Urban Development granted Los Angeles presumptive eligibility waivers, allowing people to self-certify their income and tearing down this outdated barrier. Even with this new authority, housing providers were reluctant to take advantage of it because of potential penalties from the state. This bill changes that.
Under SB 1500, when a person experiencing homelessness is provided permanent housing using Los Angeles’ self-certification of income authority from HUD, the housing provider will no longer be subject to scrutiny from the State for 24 months as long as the unhoused individual does not have an income exceeding $48,550, which is 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI) in Los Angeles.
This bill will go into effect on January 1, 2025.
Since her first day in office when she declared an unprecedented emergency on the homelessness crisis, Mayor Bass has driven change in how we address homelessness with new initiatives to bring people living in encampments inside. She has also worked to prevent people from losing their homes and to lock arms across all levels of government to move people inside and save lives and restore neighborhoods.
Key results from the 2024 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count:
Homelessness in the City of Los Angeles is down for the first time in six years.
Unprecedented drop in street homelessness (10% decrease in the City of Los Angeles – the first double digit decrease in the last at least 9 years).
A decrease in makeshift shelters (38% decrease in the City of Los Angeles).
The number of people who moved into permanent housing is at an all time high.
Tent encampments have come down in every council district, and thousands more Angelenos came inside than in 2022 thanks to action locking arms with the City Council, County and LAHSA. The Mayor has worked to improve services for unhoused Angelenos coming inside and has also been vocal about the need to make homelessness programs more cost effective as this urgent work continues.