Governor Brown : Declare a Homelessness State of Emergency

California is facing an unprecedented emergency of homelessness, with 135,000 of our community members unhoused, and 68% of them - almost 100,000 - living unsheltered. Our state has 12% of the nation's population, but 22% of the nation's homeless. The magnitude of this humanitarian emergency and the human suffering it represents cannot be met by cities and counties on their own.

We are the fifth largest economy in the world, but without a safety net in place, the current wave of prosperity has harsh unintended consequences for California’s most vulnerable. As with other recent tragic disasters that displaced and harmed huge numbers of Californians, this statewide crisis clearly warrants an emergency response, and we are calling for the State’s help.

Governor Brown has the power to call a State of Emergency when there exist “conditions of . . . extreme peril to the safety of persons and property … which, by reason of their magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single county, city, and county, or city. ”

Clearly, homelessness is a state of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the State of California, and conditions have reached a magnitude that is beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of cities and counties alone.

Governor Brown, we call on you to declare a Homelessness State of Emergency, to help California’s overwhelmed cities and counties provide emergency shelter, healthcare, and housing to those who have lost their homes.