WATCH: Padilla, Housing California Host Statewide Panel on Federal Solutions to Reduce Homelessness and Expand Affordable Housing Access
WATCH: Padilla highlights need for transformative solutions like his Housing for All Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – RealEstateRama – U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Housing California hosted a virtual media briefing alongside a panel of California statewide housing partners to highlight how federal resources and policies support community and organizational efforts to reduce homelessness and increase access to affordable housing across the state. Padilla and the panel elevated stories and examples of how sustained investments and partnerships from the federal government in housing programs — which now face extreme budget cuts — can and have helped address our housing crises. The conversation featured housing and homelessness community leaders and authorities from Los Angeles, the Bay Area, San Diego, Sacramento, and the Central Valley.
Senator Padilla discussed his Housing for All Act, a comprehensive approach to help address the homelessness and affordable housing crises in California and across the nation. The legislation would invest in proven solutions to address affordable housing shortages and provide a historic level of federal funding for both existing programs to reduce homelessness and innovative, locally developed solutions to help vulnerable populations experiencing homelessness.
A one-pager on the Housing for All Act is available here.
“With so many Californians and Americans struggling to afford housing, the last thing the Trump Administration should be doing right now is taking away resources and impeding progress toward addressing our homelessness and housing crises. I will keep sounding the alarm on efforts to weaken housing services Californians rely on, but it’s not enough just to stop cuts. We also need a proactive plan to increase the housing supply in America,” said Senator Padilla. “That’s why I reintroduced my Housing for All Act — a bill to make historic federal investments in federal housing programs and creative solutions that cities and states across the country have already deployed. There are real, scalable, and creative housing solutions out there: we just need to provide the resources.”
“Today, our state and our country are facing a growing crisis of housing affordability. We have a choice: to retreat, or to meet this moment with bold investments in our collective future. We are calling on our leaders at all levels of government to invest at the scale this moment demands. Working together, we can make sure that every person in this country has access to that most basic human need: a safe, affordable place to call home,” said Chione Flegal, Executive Director, Housing California.
The lack of affordable housing access and the population of individuals experiencing homelessness are growing crises impacting Americans nationwide, disproportionately hurting communities of color and low-income communities. In California, an estimated 187,000 individuals and families experienced homelessness on a single night last year, two thirds of whom were unsheltered. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s recent Out of Reach 2024 Report, no state or county exists where a person working 40 hours a week and earning the state or local minimum wage can afford to rent a modest two-bedroom apartment.
Senator Padilla believes everyone deserves access to affordable and safe housing and recognizes the need to drastically increase the affordable housing stock to address the homelessness crisis facing California and the country, including through his Housing for All Act. Last month, Padilla joined San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie to tour a local affordable housing facility for low-income seniors and highlight federal and local solutions to help address the city’s housing and homelessness challenges. Padilla also introduced the bipartisan Housing Unhoused Disabled Veterans Act to ensure veterans experiencing homelessness and receiving disability payments maintain access to crucial housing support. In the aftermath of the Los Angeles fires, he introduced the bipartisan Disaster Housing Reform for American Families Act to expedite, expand, and improve temporary housing available to victims of disasters like wildfires and storms.
Padilla has fought against the Trump Administration’s proposals to cut Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) staff and field offices who help provide crucial housing services. Padilla and U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-Mo.-05) recently led more than 100 Democrats in the Senate and House in condemning staffing cuts and potential closures of HUD field offices across the country. Earlier this year, Senator Padilla sounded the alarm that these wide-ranging cuts would hamper HUD’s ability to support vulnerable communities and address the housing and homelessness crises. He also helped secure a Government Accountability Office investigation into how these cuts will impact the federal government’s ability to enforce the Fair Housing Act.
Video of Senator Padilla’s remarks is available here and can be downloaded here.
Video of the full briefing is available here and can be downloaded here.
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