California Governor Gavin Newsom announced his support for Proposition 1, a $6.38 billion bond ballot measure, during a press conference at Los Angeles General Medical Center in Los Angeles, Wednesday, January 3, 2024.
Damien Dovarganes/AP
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Damien Dovarganes/AP
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced his support for Proposition 1, a $6.38 billion bond ballot measure, during a press conference at Los Angeles General Medical Center in Los Angeles, Wednesday, January 3, 2024.
Damien Dovarganes/AP
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California voters approved a measure that imposes strict requirements on counties to spend on housing and drug treatment programs to address the state's homelessness crisis, pushing the policy privately. Gov. Gavin Newsom won by a narrow margin. Major progress.
Democrats outnumber Republicans by an astounding 2-1 in California, and last-minute votes cast more than two weeks after Election Day mean Newsom's administration will have to pay billions to remove people from the streets. Despite investing dollars, he expressed concern about the state's homeless policy. Dramatic changes can be seen in Los Angeles and other large cities.
The state accounts for nearly one-third of the homeless population in the United States. Approximately 181,000 Californians are in need of housing.
Mr. Newsom, who made this bill his signature proposal, spent a great deal of time and money campaigning for it. He has raised more than $13 million to advance this effort, with support from law enforcement, first responders, hospitals, and mayors of major cities. Opponents only raised $1,000 for him.
Proposition 1 would be the first update to the state's mental health system in 20 years.
“This is the biggest change in California's homelessness response in decades, and a victory for taking a fundamentally different approach,” Newsom said in a statement after the last-minute vote. Ta. “Now, counties and local governments must align with the ambitions of California voters. This historic reform will only succeed if all state and local leaders take immediate action. .”
The county will now direct about two-thirds of the tax voters approved in 2004 on wealthy people to mental health services, housing and programs for homeless people with serious mental illness and substance abuse problems. It will be mandatory.
The state currently has 5,500 beds in stock, but about 8,000 more are needed to treat mental health and addiction issues.
The initiative also allows the state to borrow $6.38 billion to build 4,350 housing units, half of which will be reserved for veterans, and add 6,800 mental health and addiction treatment beds. It is being
Opponents, including social service providers and county officials, said the changes would not only focus on housing and drug treatment, but would threaten programs that prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place.
Critics say this single formula would require rural counties like Butte, with a homeless population of fewer than 1,300 people, to direct the same proportion of funding toward housing as urban counties like San Francisco, which have six times as many homeless people. He said it could happen. bigger.
With makeshift tents lining streets and disrupting business in communities across the state, homelessness has become one of California's most frustrating issues, prompting Newsom to launch a nationwide movement. This is a problem that always bothers me.
Newsom touted the proposal as the final part of his plan to reform California's mental health system. He is already pushing for legislation that would make it easier to force treatment for people with behavioral health problems.
William Elias, a television producer in Sacramento, said he was “on the fence” about Prop. 1, but decided to vote for it because of the rampant homelessness crisis.
“It's all around us right now,” he said. “We set up a tent in front of City Hall.”
Palm Springs resident Estrellita Vivirito also voted “yes” on the bill.
“It makes sense, but we have to do something,” she said.
Katherine Wolf, a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, said she voted “no” to the measure because she was concerned that more people would be locked up against their will.
“I was appalled by the legal system he has built to erode the rights of the mentally ill,” Wolf said of Newsom.
Griffin Bovee, a Republican state official from Sacramento, also voted against the proposal, saying the state was wasting taxpayer money.
“The city of Sacramento shouldn't receive another dime until they actually understand why what they're doing isn't working,” he said of the state's response to the homeless crisis. “They've spent $20 billion over the last few years trying to fix that problem, but it's only gotten worse.”
Revenue from taxes on millionaires currently stands at $2 billion to $3 billion a year, covering about a third of the state's total mental health budget.
Opponents, including some county officials, mental health providers and some Republicans, say the ballot measure would cut funding from cultural centers, peer support programs and vocational services, and reduce funding for those programs and homeless services. He said there would be a conflict.
The Newsom administration has already spent at least $22 billion on a variety of programs to address the crisis, including $3.5 billion to convert blighted motels into homeless housing. California is also providing $2 billion in grants to build more treatment facilities.
