Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) Grants

California state funding to prevent and end homelessness

The California Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) Program is a state-funded initiative launched in 2019 to provide flexible grants to cities, counties, and Continuums of Care (CoCs) to address homelessness. The program emphasizes regional coordination to move individuals and families into permanent housing and support their long-term stability.

The state’s Housing and Community Development Department manages and monitors the HHAP program. Funding is allocated to eligible jurisdictions through annual applications and an award allocation established by the state. Five rounds of funding have been awarded to date.

Resources

California Department of Housing and Community Development HHAP website

Regional Allocations

The first five years of the HHAP program have provided approximately $160 million in funding to the City of Sacramento, Sacramento County, and Sacramento CoC. These funds have supported a range of programs and services, requiring agencies to work together to coordinate efforts, maximize resources, and improve housing stability while reducing homelessness.

In 2022, a Local Homeless Action Plan directed the coordination of these investments. More recently, starting in 2024, the Regionally Coordinated Homelessness Action Plan has been guiding blueprint for collaboration.

HHAP Allocations to Sacramento City, County, and CoC (Rounds 1-5)

HHAP Allocations to Sacramento CoC (Rounds 1-5)

Regional Expenditures

The state’s HHAP program is designed to support systemic change rather than one-time, short-term efforts. The Sacramento Continuum of Care (CoC) has, therefore, strategically paced spending, focusing on building durable infrastructure and programs that will stabilize the homelessness response system over time. Investments in prevention programs, the Coordinated Access Navigation (CAN) team, and data systems like the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) are foundational and meant to serve the community for years. This deliberate, phased approach ensures resources remain flexible and responsive to evolving community needs.

Spending also is closely coordinated with City and County efforts. While the City and County focus more on direct services like emergency shelters, the CoC has invested HHAP funds into system-level infrastructure such as outreach coordination, 2-1-1 integration with the Coordinated Access System, and data tools.

Finally, the CoC has prioritized investing other federal, state, and local funding sources to preserve HHAP funding for urgent gaps and long-term priorities.

HHAP allocations include:

Approximately 75% flowing directly to community-based service providers.
Approximately 25% for critical functions like staffing, coordination, and evaluation.
$2 million annually dedicated to keeping households housed through prevention efforts.
Support for a robust Homelessness Management and Information System (HMIS) that supports over 1,300 assessors.
Investments in service provider capacity-building.
Meaningful compensation for individuals with lived experience whose insights shape more human-centered services.
Youth-focused rapid rehousing and interim shelter projects.

HHAP Expenditures by Sacramento City, County, and CoC (Rounds 1-5)

Notes on Expenditures:

Physical access point dollars will be incorporated into the Coordinated Access Navigator (CAN) team Request For Proposal (RFP) contract released in summer 2025.
System Supports for Transitional Age Youth (TAY) will be incorporated into a revised TAY-focused Rapid Rehousing program RFP released this summer 2025.
All other expenditures are projected to be fully expended within 3 years.