CITY OF COTATI
March 20, 2023
The Honorable Nancy Skinner The Honorable Philip Ting
Chair, Senate Budget & Fiscal Review Committee Chair, Assembly Budget Committee 1021 O Street, Suite 8630 1021 O Street, Suite 8230
Sacramento, CA 95814 Sacramento, CA 95814
The Honorable Roger Niello The Honorable Vince Fong
Vice Chair, Senate Budget & Fiscal Review Committee Vice Chair, Assembly Budget Committee 1021 O Street, Suite 7110 1021 O Street, Suite 4630
Sacramento, CA 95814 Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Senator Skinner, Senator Niello, Assembly Member Ting, and Assembly Member Fong:
In the spirit of a strong state and local government partnership that benefits all Californians, the City of Cotati respectfully calls on the state and lawmakers to take action to bolster local government efforts to support our most vulnerable residents and ensure California's economic strength.
City officials are on the front lines delivering essential services to more than 80% of the state's residents. They rely on collaborative partnerships with the state and other organizations to meet the challenges facing our communities. Every day, local leaders connecting individuals experiencing homelessness with wraparound services, delivering permanent supportive housing, and jumpstarting the construction of affordable housing in their communities. Clearly there's more work to do and that requires additional resources.
The City of Cotati calls on the Legislature to make a permanent funding stream of $3 billion annually for cities to help more Californians find homes and prevent more Californians from having to live on the streets, under bridges, or in their cars.
Tougher fiscal times can exacerbate the challenges our communities face by contributing to a downturn in the production of affordable housing, an increase in the struggle for resources for unhoused residents, and ever-increasing economic inequity. In the face of another potential recession, we cannot afford for these gaps to widen.
An ongoing $3 billion investment from the state can spur much-needed housing production, ensure that thousands more Californians experiencing homelessness get the support they need, and more importantly, prevent thousands more from losing their homes. This funding will further our state- local partnership to advance practical, data-driven, and effective strategies to two of the state's biggest challenges.
201 West Sierra Avenue, Cotati, CA 94931-4217 • TELEPHONE 707•792•4600 • FAX 795 • 7067 Cotati is a founding member of Sonoma County's Continuum of Care (CoC). As a collaboration of seventeen-members, made up of local elected officials, nonprofit representatives, subject matter experts, and individuals with lived homeless experience, the COC strives to co achieve Functional Zero homelessness in Sonoma County using a housing first model. This system of care is designed to; promote a community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness, provide funding for efforts to quickly re-house individuals and families who are homeless, which minimizes the trauma and dislocation caused by homelessness, promote access to and effective use of mainstream programs, and optimize self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
With additional state funding this program could implement more objectives to timely meet the needs of the individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
It is also time for the state to finally pay down its growing backlog of unreimbursed claims — nearly $1 billion — owed to local governments for state-mandated programs. The vitality of local governments is dependent upon fiscal stability, and local governments rely on the state to reimburse them in a timely manner for costs related to delivering a wide range of state-mandated programs.
Equally important, the City of Cotati strongly opposes any action that would reduce or eliminate funding for local governments as a short-term solution to balance the 2023-24 state budget. Diverting funding would only compound cities' financial challenges and jeopardize the delivery of critical resources to our most vulnerable residents.
We look forward to engaging with you to realize an even stronger partnership for the benefit of all Californians.
Sincerely,
Ran Atlay
Susan Harvey
Mayor
City of Cotati, Sonoma County, CA
Cc: Sen. Bill Dodd, California 3rd District
Stephanie Nguyen, Assembly Member 10th district
Nancy Hall Bennett, [email protected]
League of California Cities (Via email: [email protected])