Gov. Newsom Unveils $12 Billion Plan To End Family Homelessness Within 5 Years
SAN DIEGO COUNTY (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday proposed $12 billion in new funding to get more people experiencing homelessness in the state into housing and to "functionally end family homelessness" within five years.
Newsom's plan was announced in a statement Tuesday morning. He provided more details on the program at a media event in San Diego County. Newsom appeared with other city and county officials at a former Extended Stay America hotel that has been converted to housing for over 175 people.
Newsom said that the pandemic spurred the state to act with urgency to address California's problem with homelessness, recognizing the danger that COVID-19 presented to the at-risk population.
"There is no greater manifestation of our failure -- as a society, broadly, or as a state more specifically -- than homelessness. And that's what brought to bear a strategy to do something radically different," Newsom said. "We recognized a year plus ago that we had to do something radically different."
Newsom touted the success of the two programs that his administration introduced -- Project Roomkey and Project Homekey.
"These two programs move with a sense of urgency and focus the likes of which we have never advanced in the state of California. This site was procured in just a few months," explained Newsom. This would have taken years to build something like this to house individuals -- to process the permits, the neighborhood input, the neighborhood opposition, issues related to furnishing it, providing the on-site case management -- all of that happened in a matter of months."
Newsom said that the state had invested $846 million in Project Homekey six months ago, with the program got 94 different sites across the state through escrow and opened for operation to house the homeless. Over 6,000 units are now occupied by formerly homeless individuals, the governor said.
Newsom said the success of the programs is what led him to expanding on the financial commitment to end homelessness from what was over a billion dollars last year to over ten times that amount with Tuesday's announcement.
"What we're proposing here today is a $12 billion two-year proposal, unprecedented in American history, not just California history. This is not just doubling down on strategy; this is an order of magnitude investment into transforming the homeless crisis in the state of California," Newsom said.
The first-term Democrat faces a recall election, mounted by Republicans and others unhappy with the way he has handled the pandemic, the economy and government.
The nation's most populous state county has an estimated 161,000 people experiencing homelessness, which is more than any other state.
A new state database shows that nearly 250,000 people sought housing services from local housing officials in 2020. Of that number, 117,000 people are still waiting for help while nearly 92,000 people found housing.
Newsom — a former mayor of San Francisco, where homelessness is very visible — seized the twin crises of homelessness and affordable housing even before the pandemic started last year.
He launched projects "Roomkey" and "Homekey," using federal funding to house homeless residents in hotels and motels during the pandemic and helped cities, counties and other local entities buy and convert motels and other buildings into housing.
Newsom's new proposal includes $8.75 billion to expand on "Homekey" and to convert existing buildings into 46,000 units of housing. Newsom officials said $800 million spent on the program last year created 6,000 more housing units from motels, houses, dorms and other repurposed buildings, providing shelter for 8,200 people.
The average cost to convert a unit into housing for people experiencing homelessness was nearly $150,000, Newsom administration officials said at a recent briefing. They said that is much cheaper than building housing from scratch.
Local leaders have welcomed Newsom's focus on the problem. Big city California mayors are seeking $20 billion from the state over five years to address housing and homelessness.
Advocates for the homeless say there's simply not enough affordable housing to help people who slip into homelessness, which is why tent camps and sleeping bags still clutter highway ramps and city sidewalks.
Newsom's proposal also includes $3.5 billion in efforts to prevent people from becoming homeless, including rental payment assistance, to "functionally end family homelessness within five years," the statement from Newsom's administration said. It's not known how the administration will measure that.
The spending proposal comes as part of a $100 billion pandemic recovery plan Newsom is rolling out this week. The massive amount comes from an astounding $76 billion estimated state budget surplus and $27 billion in new funding from the federal government's latest coronavirus spending bill.
A February audit criticized the state for its fragmented approach to addressing homelessness, and urged the state to track spending and set statewide policy.
It identified at least nine state agencies that spent $13 billion on 41 programs to address homelessness without evidence to show what was effective.
