[SAMPLE LETTER IN SUPPORT OF AB 74 ON YOUR LETTERHEAD]
September 14, 2018
Governor Edmund Brown
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
FAX: (916) 558-3160
Re: Support for Assembly Bill 74
Dear Governor Brown—
I am writing in support of Assembly Bill 74. [TWO TO THREE SENTENCES ABOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION]Using existing resources, AB 74 would curb costs among some of the most expensive and vulnerable Medi-Cal beneficiaries: those experiencing chronic homelessness.
Californians experiencing homelessness incur disproportionate healthcare costs, as homeless people are far more likely to have longer inpatient stays, more frequent emergency room visits, and recurrent nursing home admissions than their housed counterparts. Despite these high health costs, people experiencing homelessness have poor health outcomes and are at significant risk for early mortality.
The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) acknowledged decades of research demonstrating housing decreases Medicaid costs when it sought and received approval for a Whole Person Care program, allowingcounties to match federal funds to pay forservices promoting housing stability. DHCS is also working to implement a new Health Home Program that would fund some of these services for high-cost homeless beneficiaries.Though Whole Person Care pilots and the Health Home Program can fund services in housing, services alone will not reduce health costsbeneficiaries incur unless service providers are able to link participants to housing. Providing services to homeless people, no matter how effective these same services may be for housed people, does not improve the health or decrease the costs of homeless Californians. In fact, homeless frequent hospital users continually increase their inpatient costs the longer they remain homeless.
Assembly Bill 74 would create a Housing for a Healthy California Program using existing federal dollars. The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) would use a portion of the national Housing Trust Fund it receives for the next three years to create housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness or frequent hospital use.The national Housing Trust Fund issubsidized through a dedicated revenue source based on the volume of business Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac generate, and is not subject to congressional appropriation. The Trust Fund will remain in place for the foreseeable future, and HCD could use 10% from the Fund to pay for the administrative costs of creating and monitoring the Housing for a Healthy California program, as well as evaluating program results. Steering these resources toward this population would allow developers to tie services dollars from the Whole Person Care pilotsand the Health Home Program to intended outcomes, and would allow the State to track health outcomes, healthcare utilization, and Medi-Cal cost changes from moving our most vulnerable residents from homelessness to housing stability.
Moreover, AB 74 would dramatically improve outcomes among the most vulnerable Californians. For this reason, we urge you to sign AB 74.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR TITLE]
cc: Lisa Engel, Assembly Committee on Housing & Community Development,
Sharon Rapport, Corporation for Supportive Housing,
Chris Martin, Housing California,