Hundreds of Fresno shelter beds at risk without state money, Mayor Jerry Dyer says
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and a group of mayors from some of California’s largest cities say they expect to lose thousands of shelter beds under a plan to delay funding for homeless services.
Dyer said Thursday it is “unacceptable” that Fresno is at risk of losing 247 shelter beds, which includes 30 for youth, in what accounts for 30% of the emergency shelter capacity paid for by the city.
“The fight to help the most vulnerable among us cannot be solved overnight,” he said in a statement. “It is a dynamic, complicated, evolving issue that requires nimble strategies and solutions. It also requires a dedicated funding stream.”
A tally from earlier this year showed the number of homeless people in Fresno and Madera grew by 3% from the count two years prior, which included a 10% growth in people living unsheltered.
Dyer partnered with the Big City Mayors Coalition of Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and others to call attention to what they say is a potential plan to delay state Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Grant money, or HHAP.
Fresno has received more than $51 million in HHAP dollars through six rounds, according to city spokesperson Sontaya Rose. The seventh round in question hasn’t been determined but Rose said based on previous amounts, Fresno could see about $10 million in a seventh round.
State lawmakers must finalize the budget by the end of the month.
The money cities have spent since the grant program started in California has led to more than 17,000 new shelter beds, services for more than 150,000 people and nearly 2,300 permanent housing units, according to Dawson, the mayor of Riverside who heads up the Big City Mayors coalition.
“There’s been talk about excluding round seven from the 2025-26 budget, with the idea that it can be restored later but that thinking ignores a very real, immediate consequence on the ground,” she said on Thursday.
The mayors said they were trying to get ahead of any idea that the cities were not spending the allocated dollars. The last round of budgeted HHAP grant funding had not yet been sent out to the cities by the state.
But any delay would create a gap in services down the road, according to Gloria, San Diego’s mayor.
“That’s why we’re so insistent that it’s not a matter of us not spending the money fast enough,” he said.
This story was originally published June 9, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
