HomeMy WebLinkAboutSB 866 (Blakespear) - Homelessness Reporting - City of SLO - OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDEDCity of San Luis Obispo, Office of the City Council, 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401-3249, 805.781.7114,
slocity.org
April 15, 2026
The Honorable Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón
Chair, Senate Rules Committee
State Capitol, Room 400
Sacramento, CA 95614
The Honorable Jesse Arreguín
Chair, Senate Housing Committee
1021 O Street, Suite 3330
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: SB 866 (Blakespear) Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program: housing
element. Notice of OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED
Dear Senate Committee on Housing and Senate Committee on Rules,
The City of San Luis Obispo must respectfully oppose SB 866 (Blakespear) unless amended. The bill
would impose extensive homelessness reporting requirements on cities that do not receive state
homelessness funding, creating a disproportionate burden on smaller communities.
SB 866 applies system performance measures currently used in the state’s Homeless Housing,
Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) regional planning process and requires cities without HHAP
funding to report this data in their housing elements. This includes detailed information on available
resources, outcomes, and populations experiencing homelessness.
However, many of these requirements rely on data and services administered by counties and other
regional partners. Cities are not well-positioned to collect or report on this information
independently, and most lack the infrastructure and access to relevant data to do so. As a result, SB
866 would create significant administrative challenges without providing dedicated resources to
support those efforts. Additionally, housing elements are updated every eight years, while
homelessness data is typically collected and reported annually through regional processes. Requiring
this information in housing elements would not meaningfully improve responsiveness to changing
conditions.
The City of San Luis Obispo supports the goal of increasing transparency and coordination but
recommends amendments to SB 866 to align with the existing HHAP regional planning process.
Ensuring that smaller cities have a formal role in regional planning would provide access to the same
data and accountability measures without duplicating efforts or imposing unfunded mandates.
San Luis Obispo has made substantial local investments to address homelessness, but the need
continues to exceed available resources. Expanding access to state funding and strengthening
regional collaboration would better support local efforts than additional reporting requirements. For
these reasons, the City of San Luis Obispo respectfully urges amendments to SB 866.
Sincerely,
Erica A. Stewart
Mayor
City of San Luis Obispo
cc: Senator Catherine Blakespear
San Luis Obispo City Council Members
Senator John Laird
Assemblymember Dawn Addis
Dave Mullinax, League of California Cities
League of California Cities, cityletters@cacities.org