Bill Text: CA AB678 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Assembly Bill 678

Bill Title: Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)

Status: (Passed) 2025-10-10 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 495, Statutes of 2025. [AB678 Detail]

Download: California-2025-AB678-Chaptered.html

Assembly Bill No. 678

CHAPTER 495

An act to add Section 8257.3 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to homelessness.

[ Approved by Governor October 10, 2025. Filed with Secretary of State October 10, 2025. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 678, Lee. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Existing law requires the Governor to create an Interagency Council on Homelessness, consisting of specified members. Among other goals, existing law requires the council to serve as a facilitator and create partnerships among federal, state, and local governments, nonprofit entities working to end homelessness, homeless services providers, and the private sector, for the purpose of arriving at specific strategies to end homelessness. Existing law also requires the council to make policy and procedural recommendations to legislators and other governmental entities.

This bill would require the council to coordinate with representatives from LGBTQ+ communities to identify recommended policies and best practices for providing inclusive and culturally competent services to LGBTQ+ people experiencing homelessness and develop recommendations to, among other things, expand data collection to understand the needs and experiences of LGBTQ+ people in state homelessness programs, as defined. The bill would require the council, on or before July 1, 2027, to submit a report to specific committees of the Legislature on these recommendations.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 8257.3 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

8257.3.

(a) The council shall coordinate with representatives from LGBTQ+ communities, including, but not limited to, housing providers, nonprofit organizations, advocates, and researchers, to do all of the following:

(1) Identify recommended policies and best practices for providing inclusive and culturally competent services to LGBTQ+ people experiencing homelessness.

(2) Develop recommendations to do all of the following:

(A) Provide education, training, and resources to improve culturally competent services for LGBTQ+ people in state homelessness programs.

(B) Expand data collection to understand the needs and experiences of LGBTQ+ people in state homelessness programs.

(C) Prevent discrimination, harassment, and violence against members of the LGBTQ+ community in state homelessness programs.

(b) For purposes of this section, “state homelessness programs” means those programs that are funded, in whole or in part, by the state with the express purpose of addressing or preventing homelessness or providing services to people experiencing homelessness.

(c) Notwithstanding Section 9795 of the Government Code, on or before July 1, 2027, the council shall submit a report on the recommendations required by subdivision (a) to the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development and the Senate Committee on Housing, or their successor committees.