California has the highest population of homeless residents in the country, an especially acute problem in the metropolitan regions of the Bay Area and Los Angeles. This week, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 932, which would expedite local approval of temporary supportive shelters on public land under the declaration of a shelter crisis. City governments in Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles have already declared a shelter crisis, with over 70% of their homeless populations remaining unsheltered.
Under AB 932, authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D - SF), cities that have declared a shelter crisis must enact ordinances to streamline the construction of emergency shelter, and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) must approve regulations within 30 days. In a press release, Ting explained that cities struggling to address these emergencies would now “be free from red tape.”