AB 1708 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program: round 8: smaller jurisdictions.

Summary

Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) program for the purpose of providing jurisdictions with grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified. Existing law provides for the allocation of funding under the program among continuums of care, cities, counties, and tribes in 6 rounds, with rounds 1 to 5, inclusive, administered by the Interagency Council on Homelessness and round 6 administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development, as provided. Existing law establishes round 7 of the program and states the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation that specifies the parameters, as specified. To be eligible for round 5 or round 6 base program allocation, existing law requires a jurisdiction that is not a tribe to apply as part of a region and be signatory to a regionally coordinated homelessness action plan that meets specified requirements. This bill would apply to the allocation of funding available under round 8 of the program and require a round 8 regionally coordinated homelessness action plan to include certain components, including a description of programs and interventions provided by smaller jurisdictions, as defined, that serve the objects and goals of the program, as specified. The bill would authorize a region receiving funding under round 8 to allocate a portion of that funding to smaller jurisdictions to support those programs. The bill would prescribe requirements for a smaller jurisdiction to be eligible to receive funding pursuant to these provisions.

Issues: ✓ Housing

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 4, 2026 Last action May 14, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

04/06/26 - Amended Assembly → AB1708 · 1 edit

MINOR

This diff reflects a change in document formatting and presentation rather than a substantive policy change. The bill text moved from the formal legislative document layout (with line numbers, page headers, and column formatting) to the web-published version on the California legislature website. The underlying provisions of AB 1708 regarding smaller jurisdictions in rounds 7 and 8 of the HHAP program remain unchanged.

TECHNICAL

The bill text was reformatted from the official legislative document layout (with line numbers, page breaks, and two-column formatting) to a clean web-published format. No substantive policy language was added, removed, or altered.

02/04/26 - Introduced → 04/06/26 - Amended Assembly · 8 edits · Apr 6, 2026

MODERATE

The amended version of AB 1708 significantly expands the bill's scope by adding a new Article 4 (Section 50248) that extends smaller jurisdiction funding provisions from Round 7 to Round 8 of the HHAP program. It also adds legislative findings and declarations explaining the rationale for including smaller cities, and requires Round 8 regional action plans to include specific components about smaller jurisdiction programs and a feasibility analysis for allocating a target percentage of funds to them.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from covering only Round 7 HHAP funding allocation to smaller jurisdictions to also covering Round 8, with new requirements for regional action plans and a permissive (not mandatory) funding mechanism for regions to direct funds to smaller cities under 300,000 population.

SCOPE

A new Article 4 (Section 50248) was added that applies the smaller jurisdiction framework to Round 8 of the HHAP program, expanding the bill beyond its original Round 7-only scope.

REQUIREMENT

Round 8 regionally coordinated homelessness action plans must now include a description of programs and interventions provided by smaller jurisdictions, informed by coordinated outreach that gives those jurisdictions opportunities to identify existing programs, gaps, and financial needs, plus ongoing documented engagement and participation in identifying funding priorities.

Round 8 regional action plans must include an analysis of how local, state, federal, and Round 8 funding can support identified smaller jurisdiction programs, how regional funding enables expansion or sustaining of projects, and an evaluation of the feasibility of allocating a target percentage of funds to smaller jurisdictions consistent with regional needs.

FISCAL

Regions receiving Round 8 funding are authorized (but not required) to allocate a portion of that funding to smaller jurisdictions to support identified programs. This is permissive language ('may allocate') rather than mandatory.

ENFORCEMENT

Regions must establish a transparent and publicly available process for smaller jurisdictions to apply for or access Round 8 funding, including timelines, evaluation criteria, and decisionmaking formulas.

ELIGIBILITY

New eligibility requirements for smaller jurisdictions in Round 8: compliant housing element, adopted local encampment policy consistent with administration guidance, demonstration that past actions served program goals, and adoption of a resolution committing to the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan and directing the mayor to sign the MOU.

DEFINITION

A new legislative findings section (Section 1) was added stating that Round 6 funding was allocated 30% to continuums of care, 42% to cities with population 300,000 or more, and 28% to counties, and that cities under 300,000 can play an important role in planning by identifying local projects and coordinating financing.

TECHNICAL

The short title was updated to specify the exact code location (Article 4, Chapter 6.5, Part 1, Division 31) rather than just referencing Section 50246 generically.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

May 14, 2026

Lower · Passed

In committee: Held under submission.

lower

May 6, 2026

Committee

In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.

lower

Apr 23, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (April 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Apr 15, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HUM. S. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (April 15). Re-referred to Com. on HUM. S.

lower

Apr 7, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on H. & C.D.

lower

Apr 6, 2026

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on H. & C.D. Read second time and amended.

lower

Mar 16, 2026

Lower · Passed

In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.

lower

Feb 23, 2026

Committee

Referred to Coms. on H. & C.D. and HUM. S.

lower

Feb 5, 2026

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee March 7.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors