A bill that could combat homelessness in California passed unanimously in the State’s Senate Housing Committee.
It’s the Interim Housing Solutions Act, or Senate Bill 1395. If passed, the bill would free up state funding for interim housing projects and streamline development them.
Elizabeth Funk is the founder of Dignity Moves, a housing non-profit and a co-sponsor of the bill. She said SB 1395 could help unhoused people find services that assist them in their search for permanent housing.
“This is a place where people can come stay for six months or two years. However long they need in order to get stabilized and get back into permanent housing,” Funk said.
More than 80% of unhoused people in San Luis Obispo County are unsheltered, according to county data in 2022. Funk said that if more efforts are put into interim housing, unsheltered homelessness could be eradicated.
“It's the most visible, it's the most inhumane and it's the part that's most solvable, getting a roof over people's heads that part can be done,” Funk said.
Dignity Moves has built interim housing in Santa Barbara County and is currently working on a project in Grover Beach. The bill is set for a senate hearing on Wednesday.
