Rather than throw healthcare dollars at treating homelessness after the fact, we need to invest in stable housing before the fact. AB 2821 would create Housing for a Healthy California (HHCP), a new program to provide rental assistance to individuals who are both homeless and receive healthcare services from federal, state, and local funding. The federal government approved the use of federal Medicaid dollars to fund services in supportive housing and indicated California could use its own State dollars (through Medi-Cal or otherwise) to fund housing assistance. The challenges California faces with respect to its housing crisis, homelessness, and rising healthcare costs are not going away anytime soon. The author of AB 2821, Assemblymember David Chiu chairs the California Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee.

Source: Huffington Post September 23, 2016 20:03 UTC