{"id":20173,"date":"2022-11-10T09:00:06","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T14:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=20173"},"modified":"2022-11-10T09:01:07","modified_gmt":"2022-11-10T14:01:07","slug":"newsom-lambastes-california-plans-on-homelessness-pauses-1-billion-in-funding-for-municipalities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/newsom-lambastes-california-plans-on-homelessness-pauses-1-billion-in-funding-for-municipalities\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsom Lambastes California Plans on Homelessness, Pauses $1 Billion in Funding for Municipalities"},"content":{"rendered":"
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California\u2019s cities aren\u2019t doing enough to combat homelessness, Gov. Gavin Newsom decided last week, so he\u2019s halting $1 billion in state spending for local governments until they can come up with something better.<\/span><\/p>\n

Newsom, a Democrat who was reelected to a second term this week, announced\u00a0<\/span>on November 3<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that the third round of Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grants would be withheld until new strategies that better address the state\u2019s growing homelessness crisis were submitted to the state.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a state, we are failing to meet the urgency of this moment,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cCollectively, these plans set a goal to reduce street homelessness 2 percent statewide by 2024. At this pace, it would take decades to significantly curb homelessness in California\u2014this approach is simply unacceptable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

California has long treated homelessness\u00a0as a local issue<\/a>, pushing the responsibility for solving it onto cities and counties.<\/h4>\n

These municipalities receive billions in state tax dollars, including the recent $15.3 billion HHAP package, to design and run programs to create housing and end unsheltered homelessness.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Newsom said the plans he\u2019s received so far are deeply disappointing. He told\u00a0<\/span>LA Times<\/span><\/em>\u00a0columnist Anita Chabria<\/span><\/a>\u00a0one partnership among several municipal entities \u201cpromised to not allow homelessness in its area to grow by more than 71 percent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a typo,\u201d he told the\u00a0<\/span>Times<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Newsom said he would convene a meeting of all recipients of HHAP funding\u2014its 13 largest cities, its counties, and groups of homeless providers\u2014later in November. According to\u00a0<\/span>the release from the governor\u2019s office<\/span><\/a>, applicants are expected to present plans that \u201c[address], in detail, local actions to prevent and reduce the number of individuals experiencing homelessness at the community level. The plans must include a landscape analysis that assesses the current number of people experiencing homelessness in a given community and identify all existing programs, and all sources of funding aimed at tackling this crisis. Additionally, the plans must include outcome-driven results and strategies for achieving these goals using clear metrics to track success.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has to do better\u2014cities, counties, and the state included,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cWe are all in this together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayors Confused by Pause in Homelessness Funding; Homeless Advocates Concerned About Programs<\/h3>\n

But leaders of California\u2019s largest cities\u2014all Democrats like Newsom\u2014feel otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a statement,\u00a0<\/span>Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti<\/span><\/a>\u00a0said too much of the burden has fallen on the cities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a percentage of our budget, the city spends five times what the state spends on homelessness,\u201d Garcetti said. \u201cDespite some good steps forward from the governor and legislature in recent years, this fight is still disproportionately shouldered by local communities with far fewer resources than the state.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Garcetti also pointed out that this wasn\u2019t the first the state had seen of LA\u2019s proposals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is perplexing, after the city worked directly with and received positive feedback from state agencies and county partners to develop our plan,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other municipal leaders expressed similar frustrations.\u00a0<\/span>Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf<\/span><\/a>\u00a0said her city had also worked with the state to create their proposal, while\u00a0<\/span>San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0said the state should be offering up 10 percent of its budget surplus and implied Newsom\u2019s move was purely political.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s put down the megaphones and pick up the shovels,\u201d Liccardo said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Advocates, meanwhile, expressed reservations about how the funding pause would impact their clients.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere might be some projects that are gonna be on hold,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>said Genevieve Lucas-Conwell<\/span><\/a>, Executive Director of the Coalition of Homeless Services Providers. \u201cSo, how do we support those projects to make sure they\u2019re supported within this pause? Hopefully, there\u2019s gonna be some other funding sources we can tap into.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a statement, League of California Cities Executive Director and CEO Carolyn Coleman said that the funding pause doesn\u2019t make sense given the urgency of the homelessness crisis.<\/h4>\n

\u201cFailing to release state funding will not put roofs over the heads of Californians or deliver desperately needed supportive services,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>she wrote<\/span><\/a>. \u201cRefusing the delivery of these funds is the opposite of progress\u2014if anything, it will lengthen the time it takes for unhoused residents to access the services and housing they deserve.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She also said that the state\u2019s failure to provide leadership puts too much of a burden on municipalities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAddressing the state\u2019s homelessness crisis, including prevention, is a shared responsibility that requires a complex approach and must include all levels of government, nonprofits, and community organizations,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIf the state is looking for a real solution to this crisis, we need a statewide plan and sustainable state funding that supports long-term planning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jennifer Loving is the chief executive of Destination: Home, a nonprofit organization that works with people experiencing homelessness in Santa Clara County and the city of San Jose. In an interview with\u00a0<\/span>LA Times columnist George Skelton<\/span><\/a>, she recognized Newsom\u2019s frustration. But she said he has to provide some guidance if he wants cities and counties to do better.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s kind of like a basketball coach telling his team they all suck without telling them what positions to play, and what plays to run,\u201d she said. \u201cInstead of treating counties like bad children and acting as an absentee parent, it would be better to work together to create a state plan.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

California\u2019s cities aren\u2019t doing enough to combat homelessness, Gov. Gavin Newsom decided last week, so he\u2019s halting $1 billion in state spending for local governments until they can come up with something better. Newsom, a Democrat who was reelected to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":20174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[846,253,832,9159,515,15703,1196,508,17268,17267,15791],"coauthors":[16041],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20173"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20176,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20173\/revisions\/20176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20173"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=20173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}