March 13, 2025

On Wednesday, the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH) released a new three-year statewide homelessness action plan, 2025-2027 Statewide Action Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. The Action Plan is the second iteration the State has released, the first of which was adopted by Cal ICH in March 2021. The Action Plan sets goals for the state, with a focus on strengthening outcomes and accountability of state funds allocated to address homelessness.

The Action Plan establishes five new goals, each with an established three-year goal based on metrics from 2023, as well as a more ambitious, longer term “North Star” goal.  The goals are as follows:

• Goal 1: Help more people leave unsheltered homelessness.
  • 3 Year Goal: Increase the annual percentage of people who move into emergency shelter, transitional housing, or permanent housing after experiencing homelessness from 42% to at least 70%.
  • North Star: 100% of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness enters into emergency shelter, transitional housing, or permanent housing.
• Goal 2: Help more people move into housing.
  • 3 Year Goal: Increase the annual percentage of people experiencing homelessness who move into permanent housing from 18% to at least 60%.
  • North Star: 100% of people accessing homelessness services moves into permanent housing.
• Goal 3: Ensure people do not experience homelessness again.
  • 3 Year Goal: Increase the number of people who move into permanent housing and do not experience homelessness again within six months from 89% to at least 95%.
  • North Star: 100% of people who move into permanent housing do not experience homelessness again within six months.
• Goal 4: Prevent more people from experiencing homelessness.
  • 3 Year Goal: To be determined. CalHHS and Cal ICH are launching a homelessness data integration project to determine the methodology for measuring this goal. Once the project is completed, Cal ICH will provide baseline data and set a numeric goal for the remaining duration of the Action Plan. Cal ICH will also explore data sharing agreements with other Council member departments and agencies, including CDCR, to support the measurement of this goal.
  • North Star: 100% of people at risk of experiencing homelessness who are eligible for publicly-funded health and social safety net services have access to them.
• Goal 5: Create more housing.
  • 3 Year Goal: Permit more than 1.5 million homes, with no less than 710,000 of those units meeting the needs of low- and very low-income households. Between 2018 and 2023, 890,000 units were permitted, with 126,000 of those being low- and very low-income units.
  • North Star: Permit 2.5 million homes by 2030, with no less than 1 million of those for low- and very low-income households.

The Action Plan lays out various state funded or administered programs that align with the goals in the plan, as well as a long list of planned state agency and department actions to support achieving these goals. Although the Action Plan largely focuses on improving existing strategic investments and collaborative efforts rather than new proposals, many of the listed actions align with the policy proposals included in CSAC’s AT HOME framework.

Now that the Action Plan has been adopted, Cal ICH staff will build out a more detailed implementation plan and will provide annual reports on outcomes related to each of the five goals. As state agencies work to implement the new Action Plan, CSAC will continue to advocate for a comprehensive statewide homelessness system that includes clear lines of responsibility for all levels of government and ongoing, sufficient funding to support local efforts.