Mayors from 13 of California’s largest cities gathered at Riverside City Hall on Friday to press the state for a guarantee: at least $1 billion a year, every year, to keep homeless shelters open and housing programs running. The meeting drew leaders representing nearly 11 million residents, who used the summit to demand that whoever becomes California’s next governor commit to sustained funding rather than the year-to-year budget fights that have defined the program’s recent history.
A Coalition Born From Budget Uncertainty
The gathering was the latest from California’s Big City Mayors coalition, a bipartisan group that convenes as needed for policy summits rather than on a fixed schedule, according to The Press-Enterprise. The coalition held its first formal meeting in San Francisco in 2025, and Friday’s session in Riverside brought together Mayors Patricia Lock Dawson of Riverside, Jerry Dyer of Fresno, Todd Gloria of San Diego, Matt Mahan of San Jose, Rex Richardson of Long Beach, Ashleigh Aitken of Anaheim, Christina Fugazi of Stockton and Larry Agran of Irvine, among others who spoke at the event.
Lock Dawson, who chairs the coalition, said the meetings let mayors develop shared priorities and identify a course of action to pursue with the Legislature and the governor. She told attendees that restoring Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program funding was only the beginning, and that the summit was meant to surface issues cities cannot solve on their own. She specifically requested HHAP funding of at least $1 billion annually on a sustained, continuous basis — a figure the broader coalition has also pushed Sacramento to adopt, according to FOX40 News.
The Gap Between $500 Million and $1 Billion
The stakes behind that demand are concrete. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal called for $500 million in HHAP funding, far short of the $1 billion the mayors say is needed, per FOX40’s reporting.
The enacted 2026-27 budget lists $400 million for HHAP, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office. Separately, Smart Cities Dive reported mandates for localities tied to encampment clearing and progress on housing metrics. The California Department of Housing and Community Development, which administers the program, says HHAP delivers flexible grant funding to cities, counties and continuums of care to prevent and end homelessness in their regions…