Marisa Kendall
CalMattersMarisa Kendall covers California’s homelessness crisis for CalMatters, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics, and a JPR news partner.
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A California company is using AI to help diagnose homeless Californians. The technology promises better access to health care, but it also raises questions. -
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration is pressuring local leaders to pass ordinances regulating homeless encampments, among other requirements. -
A new law going into effect Jan. 1, 2026 prevents cities from penalizing outreach workers who provide services such as legal aid or hand out blankets at encampments. -
In the most-comprehensive look yet at whether people are using Gov. Gavin Newsom’s CARE Court, CalMatters found that far fewer Californians are enrolled in the mental health program than he projected. -
Gov. Gavin Newsom, Santa Clara County and San Francisco are suing the Trump administration over a huge shift in homelessness policy. -
Gov. Newsom introduced CARE Court to bring more people experiencing severe mental illness into treatment. It has helped fewer people than he projected, but a new law will make more people eligible for it. -
Thousands of Californians could return to homelessness as the feds reportedly plan to disinvest from permanent housing. -
Experts worry liberal California will be blacklisted from federal homelessness dollars, effectively counteracting recent progress. -
In the most-comprehensive look yet at whether people are using Gov. Gavin Newsom’s CARE Court, we found that far fewer Californians are enrolled in the mental health program than he projected. -
The task force, made up of six different state agencies, is the latest effort by the Newsom administration to remove homeless encampments from California’s streets. -
When it comes to clearing homeless encampments, California cities are governed by a patchwork of very different policies. -
Trump’s call to enforce bans on encampments echoes Newsom’s policy. But the president wants to upend two other core tenants of California’s homelessness response.
