People need to understand how serious this is. We are calling on the State of California to reform public assistance eligibility and administrative rules that are actively contributing to homelessness rather than preventing it. Many Californians who seek help through programs such as State Disability Insurance (SDI), CalFresh, General Assistance, and housing support have worked for years and paid into these systems. When a sudden crisis occurs—such as serious injury, hospitalization, or financial collapse—people turn to the safety net they helped fund, only to be met with delays, denials, and impossible requirements. When someone has lost everything, is injured, and has no transportation, money, or stable housing, it becomes nearly impossible to obtain the documentation being demanded. Requiring paperwork from specialists or physicians while someone has no internet access, no phone access, no transportation, and no funds is unrealistic and harmful. Emergency room and hospital discharge paperwork should be accepted as valid medical proof. Forcing people to wait weeks or months for a doctor’s signature while benefits are delayed directly contributes to homelessness. There are also serious system failures happening at the same time: – Address formatting issues that prevent payments from being processed – Debit card systems that cannot accept longer addresses, causing further delays – Phone lines where people cannot get through for help – Websites that are down or under maintenance when access is critical These systems fail to account for real-world conditions: – No transportation to medical offices – People forced to walk long distances while injured or risk getting cited trying to use public transportation – No internet or phone access – No money to pay for records – Long delays waiting for doctors to complete forms – Immediate loss of housing, income, and stability A safety net that requires perfect paperwork during a crisis is not a safety net. This needs to be addressed. Accountability matters.