Newsom has dumped $22.3 billion in housing and homeless programs since taking office
Governor Gavin Newsom kicked off a tour across California in lieu of a State of the State on Thursday in Sacramento, highlighting a new homeless reduction program that includes bringing tiny homes to cities statewide, and the goal of reducing homelessness 15% by 2025.
Since coming into statewide office in the late 2010s, Gavin Newsom has attempted to reduce homelessness in California multiple times but has failed to put a dent in the numbers. Instead, Newsom has pushed the blame to local leaders and cities.
Project Roomkey, a pandemic-era measure to put up homeless people in cheap motels and hotels, has been exhibit A in the state spending billions, while putting forward a significant amount of resources, only to fail on the follow through, and never attracting enough homeless people to even do the program in the first place. In 2022, funding for Project Roomkey and Project Homekey, a similar failed plan, cost the state over $ 3 billion.
But with homelessness still on the rise statewide, Newsom made it the subject of his new California tour and first speech on Thursday at Sacramento’s Cal Expo event center. According to Newsom, he aims to reduce homelessness 15% across the state by 2025, spend another $1 billion for homelessness funding, and push for more tiny homes to be given to the homeless in key locations across the state.
Tiny homes were given special focus, with prototypes displayed behind the governor during his speech. Gov. Newsom said that the state will give 1,200 tiny homes to four cities later this year. Los Angeles is to receive 500, San Diego 150, Sacramento 350, and San Jose 200. San Francisco was left out, but only due to the city already having a tiny home program.
“I get it,” said Newsom on Thursday. “You want to see progress. And you want to see it now. You want to see progress in terms of encampments. You want to see progress in terms of people off the street. We wanted enthusiastic partners. We didn’t want people we had to coerce. The goal, is to provide more options for homeless people who are living out in the streets and sidewalks in these extraordinary and horrid conditions.”
“In California we are using every tool in our toolbox — including the largest-ever deployment of small homes in the state — to move people out of encampments and into housing. The crisis of homelessness will never be solved without first solving the crisis of housing — the two issues are inextricably linked. My office gave preference to communities that already have a track record of operating successful tiny home communities, have potential sites available to open new ones and are eager to participate.”
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who joined Newsom at the conference, adding, “This new program is a great opportunity for our city. This commitment from the governor is going to enable us to accelerate basic, dignified housing for people who need it and start to end this era of encampments that we’ve been struggling with and we’ve seen the success just in the last few years in San Jose.”
Newsom’s plan quickly criticized
However, the plan was quickly dismantled by critics who noted that Newsom has dumped $22.3 billion in housing and homeless programs since taking office, but has yet to see many improvements due to his tactic of taking a program that worked at the local level in one area, then applying it statewide without tailoring it to each local area.
“The thing is, Newsom and his team sees a success in a certain city then try to apply it statewide without tailoring it to make it work in different areas,” explained Los Angeles homeless advocate and housing placer Logan Kramer to the Globe on Thursday. “Like Roomkey. They used a model that showed signs of success in some cities, but they failed to see why it succeeded in those areas. See, where Roomkey worked was in having motels be near places where these homeless people worked or went for self-care, such as clinics. Or they were near public transportation like a bus stop for easy access. Newsom’s Project Roomkey just didn’t even consider it it seems. The Pandemic rush, I admit, did focus on just plain housing early on to get people a to a safe place with COVID-19 going about. But after the pandemic, that was no longer an excuse. That, plus many just didn’t want to do the program due to strict controls for those going in.”
“Tiny homes are another. They have gone up in places like San Francisco, but Newsom is ignoring just how many locales are putting the kibbosh on them. San Francisco is considering a ban, and in LA, tiny homes that volunteers build are quickly confiscated by city officials because they block sidewalks or other areas. Tents you can go around when walking. You can move them easily. Not those homes. Those homes also don’t have bathroom facilities and other essentials, meaning they can be a biohazard in waiting too.”
California State Association of Counties executive director Graham Knauss also noted the locality differences, saying that “Currently state homelessness funding has all sorts of rules that have to be put in and half a dozen different state departments involved in order to find one program. That needs to change. That is not government at its best.”
However, the program could also have personal implications for Newsom.
“Newsom is a viable 2028 presidential candidate,” added Kramer. “You’re right in linking Newsom wanting to be able to say that he reduced homelessness in California during his time in office to a run, because not being able to do so will be a huge red flag to potential voters. He doesn’t want to be remembered as the Governor who made the homeless problem even worse.”
“Also remember that 2028 is going to bring the Olympics to LA too. If homeless are spotted easily, networks around the world are going to show that, which could tarnish his legacy even further.”
More speeches by Newsom across California are expected to continue throughout March, with each one touching on a different issue usually reserved for the State of the State.
Original Article: https://californiaglobe.com/articles/gov-newsom-wants-15-homeless-reduction-by-2025-new-tiny-homes/
