California Governor Gavin Newsom has agreed to release $1 billion in paused state funding for homelessness, but only if local governments agree to increase the aggressiveness of their plans to reduce the number of homeless in the state.
The Democratic governor said his Friday afternoon meeting with some 100 mayors and local officials in person and virtually was productive, with leaders who felt in tune about what should be done and willing to intensify their objectives, according to what was published The Press Democrat news site.
“It was nice to hear your progress. And it was nice to hear your recognition that we have to go to another level,” he told reporters after the more than two-hour meeting.
“What I want to see is what everyone wants to see: clean California streets. We want to see clean camps, we want to see people housed”.
Newsom, who was up for re-election this month, is in his second term to show reductions in the growing number of homeless people, some of whom camp out on city sidewalks and under highway underpasses, infuriating even the most politically liberal voters in the nation’s most populous state.
Newsom announced two weeks ago that he would withhold $1 billion in spending until cities and counties submit stronger plans.
calling the submitted plans “simply unacceptable” and which would collectively reduce the state’s homeless population by just 2% over the next four years.
Mayors and county officials, many of whom are Democrats, as well as advocates of low-income housing rejected their effort to withhold funds,saying it was counterproductive to withhold money needed for shelter beds, community workers, and other services for the homeless.
They pleaded with the governor for further instructions, as well as guaranteed funds and efforts to build more ambitious plans.
On Friday, he reiterated the record amount of money his administration has spent on housing and homelessness, including a recent commitment by state legislators to spend $15,300 million dollars over the next three years.
The money has kept tens of thousands of people housed, he said, but acknowledged that people were not seeing results in the streets.
Newsom said he had no plans to turn his back on local governments, but to “find new dedicated money as we enter what could be a recession with headwinds , one has to be sober about it, just like they’re sober about it with their budgets.”
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg defended Newsom and said after the meeting that he understood the governor’s need to provoke action by local governments.
He praised Newsom for his leadership on the issue, from converting motels in homes to new mental health courts to treat homeless people with schizophrenia and other serious mental health conditions.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, who joined virtually, said that there were too many people and little space for a “frank and constructive dialogue”.
He and other mayors told them several days ago that Newsom planned to release the money if they came up with new plans.
Overall, the governor seemed to be on a different page than the state housing department, which worked with San Jose and other cities in his s original plans, said Liccardo, also a Democrat.
The California State Association of Counties was blunt in its criticism.
“We cannot fix an ongoing crisis with one-off compromises. Progress requires clear state, county and city roles aligned with sustainable and equitable funding. We need to get out of our own way and work together,” said Graham Knaus, executive director of the association representing 75 counties in the state.
Addressing homelessness has been left to local governments in California for decades, but Newsom took office in 2019 vowing to take charge of an issue he said he understood intimately as the former mayor of San Francisco, where tent encampments litter the sidewalks and people in clear mental health crises are a common sight.
California had an estimate of 2019, homeless in 2019 and the number is expected to be higher this year, as a result of the high cost of housing in the state and the historic lack of housing construction.
Homeless advocates say they can’t keep up and that even when they find Without housing for some, many more lose their homes.
That possibility of a separate funding stream for the homeless grew dim this week after state officials announced Wednesday that California will likely run a $15 billion dollar budget deficit next year after a run of record surpluses.
The 15 largest cities in the state , 75 counties and 58 service provider groups for Homeless people submitted 75 applications detailing their plans to spend $1 billion in what was the third round of disbursements.
There is an additional $1 billion on the table, but Newsom will not release that money unless those governments commit to “be more aggressive across the board,” said Erin Mellon, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office. Plans are due in two weeks.
Applicants must also agree to implement as many best practices as possible, including more efficient methods for people to access housing and expediting the construction of more housing for poor and extremely poor households.
The Newsom administration is also cracking down on cities and California counties resisting building more housing, including affordable homes, with many saying they don’t want the congestion and changes in neighborhoods that come with more people.
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