Enterprise is honored to have had the opportunity to support the State of California’s emergency housing and homelessness response to the Covid pandemic. Working under the direction of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency (BCSH), Enterprise supported the State’s Housing Advanced Planning effort as a part of California’s Covid-19 Housing and Social Services Taskforce. Working directly with over 20 State agencies and departments as well as the Governor’s Office, we helped identify and plan for high priority strategies for short-, medium- and long-term solutions to the housing and homelessness crisis, as exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.

The final strategies are categorized in four action areas:  

• Protect Californians: Ensure Californians Achieve and Maintain Stable Housing through Rental Assistance, Foreclosure Prevention, and Policy  
• Preserve and Produce Homes for Californians: Enact Solutions to Protect and Expand Affordable Housing Supply 
• Sustain and Strengthen California’s Homeless Crisis Response and Rehousing System 
• Develop and Connect People to Jobs and Reactivate a More Resilient Economy 

Enterprise’s work involved convening and facilitating regular meetings of State sub-workgroups, developing strategic workplans, providing technical expertise and advising, collecting and presenting data and background research, sharing best practices gleaned from local experts and from around the country, and reporting regularly on Federal policy developments. Enterprise brought to bear the full suite of our organization’s expertise on this project, including staff from our Northern and Southern California market offices, our federal policy team, our national research team, our disaster resiliency and response team, our investment teams, and our national consulting team, Enterprise Advisors.

We are greatly appreciative to the leadership of the State during this time, and grateful to have had the opportunity to support the State’s crisis response during this unprecedented crisis. We hope this work will advance solutions to address both immediate needs and generate long-term solutions to some of our most critical housing challenges.