One hundred eighteen million dollars will go towards clearing and preventing new encampments in the form of Encampment Resolution grants. Another $760 million will be awarded as Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grants for local governments to increase shelter capacity, housing supply, and behavioral health services.
But Newsom says this funding will have more strings attached. The Democratic governor has taken a more aggressive tack on homeless encampments in recent months after he issued an executive order requiring local governments to adopt encampment policies.
“Without more focus on encampments, without more focus on unsheltered homeless I am not inclined to continue to support the funding to the cities and counties,” Newsom said. “We need to see results.”
In an effort to track those results, the Newsom administration also rolled out a new accountability website, accountability.ca.gov, where the public can see whether a local government is meeting state goals. The site tracks county homelessness counts, shelter capacity, participation in conservatorship reform, and more.
Newsom says it will help make decisions on future funding.
“We also have to have a clawback provision. If we continue to see red, we just can’t fund red, because that’s funding failure,” Newsom said.
The spending plan has already drawn criticism from local governments and some lawmakers.
Graham Knaus heads the California State Association of Counties and says counties aren’t the only ones responsible for combating homelessness. He added that removing money will only make things worse.
“We certainly are not going to make progress if money is being clawed back from the only entities that are doing the primary work on the ground locally, and that’s local government,” Knaus said.
Knaus wants state and local responsibilities on homelessness clarified in state law.
Republican Assemblymember Josh Hoover from Sacramento said the state’s new accountability platform doesn’t adequately track meaningful progress when it comes to behavioral health outcomes. The website shows the number of individuals receiving services.
“The number of people receiving service is just the first bite at the apple,” Hoover said. “What we really need to know is what are the outcomes of those individuals. Who is actually receiving service and then coming out more stable?”
Newsom’s proposed January budget doesn’t include any additional rounds of HHAP grants. During his announcement, he reiterated his desire for more accountability measures before committing to more funding. This sixth round of grants comes from funds allocated through last year’s state budget.
