Tell them to Vote NO on SB 802
Send a letter to the California Legislature telling them to vote on SB 802. It's the wrong approach to solving homelessness and will make the housing crisis worse in Sacramento.
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Chair Matt Haney Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee 1021 O Street, Suite 5740 Sacramento, CA 95814 RE: SB 802 (Ashby) – OPPOSE Dear Chair Haney and Members of the Committee: I write in strong opposition to SB 802 (Ashby), which would create a new regional Joint Powers Authority (JPA), the Sacramento Housing and Homelessness Agency (SHHA), and transfer to it nearly all housing and homelessness authority, funding, and decision-making across Sacramento County, including federal Continuum of Care responsibilities. Despite recent amendments that remove some of the bill’s most problematic provisions (including the RHNA reduction, tax increment transfer, and use of local trust funds across jurisdictions), the bill still poses serious legal, operational, and governance concerns that are incompatible with federal law, threaten local service delivery, and undermine ongoing regional collaboration. Key Concerns: 1. Violates Federal Law and Threatens Funding SB 802 reassigns the Continuum of Care (CoC) governance and collaborative applicant roles to the SHHA without a required vote of the CoC board and membership. This directly violates HUD regulations (24 CFR §578) and could make the Sacramento region ineligible for critical federal homelessness funding under the McKinney-Vento Act . 2. Disrupts $40M in Active Contracts The County of Sacramento administers over $40 million in active homelessness services contracts that are governed by strict performance requirements, timelines, and funding rules. SB 802 jeopardizes these programs by proposing a sweeping reassignment of responsibilities and funding to a new agency not currently equipped to manage these contracts. 3. Lacks Legal Authority to Restructure a Joint Powers Authority SHRA is currently a JPA formed voluntarily by the City and County of Sacramento. The state has no precedent or clear legal authority to forcibly restructure or expand a JPA without the consent of its member agencies, as required under the Joint Exercise of Powers Act (Gov Code §§ 6500–6539.9). 4. Undermines Existing Local Collaboration Local jurisdictions are already engaged in a process to redesign governance and improve regional coordination, with a countywide governance workshop scheduled for August. SB 802 disrupts this process and replaces locally negotiated solutions with a top-down state mandate imposed without full local buy-in . 5. Elevates an Entity Under Active Review The bill places SHRA—the current JPA—as the new lead agency for an expanded system despite the fact that Sacramento County is currently conducting an independent performance and transparency review of SHRA’s operations. Granting it new powers mid-review is irresponsible and risky. SB 802 undermines local governance, conflicts with federal law, and jeopardizes the continuity of critical housing and homelessness services. We urge the Committee to reject SB 802 and allow the region’s existing stakeholders to complete their locally-led governance reform process.
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