Newsom announces $130M in new funding for California homeless programs

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — California Governor Gavin Newsom stressed accountability while announcing $130.7 million in new funding awards for homeless programs in the state on Friday.

The “Encampment Resolution Funds” will go to 12 cities and six counties with some of the worst homelessness problems in the state, including the cities of Los Angeles, Sacramento, Berkeley and San Jose.

In addition to the awards, Newsom announced new accountability measures requiring award recipients to adhere to all state housing and homeless laws as well as remain in compliance with their housing elements. Local governments that shirk compliance risk losing their funding as well as other enforcement actions by the state’s Housing Accountability Unit.

“If you are unwilling to play by the rules, we’re not going to provide new funds and we will claw back funds as well,” said Newsom.

Newsom’s press conference comes just as he faces renewed criticism for vetoing a bipartisan bill that would require the state to report the outcomes of its homeless spending.

Newsom also introduced his solution to the problem of jurisdictional boundaries, which often plagues homeless issues. By creating “delegated maintenance agreements” with county and city governments, the state is looking to reduce the amount of bureaucracy and finger-pointing that often prevents action on homeless encampments.

“If the city wants to move and not wait for the state to do its job, the city can do that. And in return, we will reimburse their [cleaning] costs,” he said.

The state already has a similar agreement in place with the city of Los Angeles, which Newsom claims is already experiencing moderate success. The governor expects to roll out similar plans across California soon.

Newsom also showed off the results of his July Executive Order on homeless encampments, providing before and after photos of highway clean-ups across the state in areas from San Jose to San Diego. In the last three months, workers have removed almost 1,000 homeless encampments and over 18,000 cubic yards of trash and debris.

The governor invited three local leaders he called “great partners” of the state to speak at the meeting — Mayor of Sacramento Darrell Steinberg, Richmond City Manager Shasa Curl and Riverside County Executive Officer Jeffrey Van Wagenen — who all come from areas that will receive funding awards.

When asked if he could guarantee the effectiveness of this new funding, Newsom passed the question to Steinberg, Curl and Wagenen, who provided statistics on how each of their regions were allocating funding. Newsom explained that his goals could only succeed with cooperation from local governments.

“The state vision is realized at the local level … and the state’s efforts only matter as far as local government participates in partnership with the state to advance our collective goals,” said Newsom.

The governor declined to make any guarantees on the state level.

Even with $24 billion in spending on various homeless programs over the last five years, homelessness has only continued to rise in the state. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, it’s up nearly 40% from five years ago.

Earlier this year, a state audit found that the government has not consistently tracked and evaluated the state’s efforts to end homelessness despite the large amount of money spent.

California now has an estimated homeless population of 186,000, nearly one-third of the nation’s total homeless population.