California gubernatorial candidates discuss homelessness

Homelessness remains one of California’s most troubling issues, and the next governor will have to deal with nearly a quarter of the nation’s entire homeless population.

CalMatters’ Marissa Kendall, in partnership with the Steinberg Institute and Abridged — PBS KVIE, spoke with four of the top eight gubernatorial candidates to learn more about what they would do to deal with homelessness if elected:

Forced treatment: Although a UCSF study found that one-third of homeless Californians regular drug users, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco claimed, without citing a specific source, that nearly 95 percent of homeless people have a substance use disorder. To address homelessness, Bianco said people must be forced into treatment, “whether they want it or not,” so they can stabilize.

End of “housing first”: California has a nearly decades-long housing policy that prioritizes providing homeless people with a place to live, even if they use drugs or alcohol. But former Fox News anchor Steve Hilton says that model is a “complete disaster” and wants to direct public funding to sober housing. Hilton also wants to review state-funded programs that address homelessness and address wasteful spending.

See local: Since 2019, San Jose has reduced the number of people sleeping rough by nearly a quarter. So for the city’s mayor, Matt Mahan, he would implement what cities and counties are doing across the state: push for more temporary housing as well as ADUs and market-rate housing, fund permanent housing for the homeless, and allow police to arrest people who refuse multiple offers of shelter.

More homes: In addition to potentially investing in tiny homes while meeting the need for more housing overall, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says he would withhold money from counties that don’t effectively implement CARE Court. He also wants to boost training programs with California colleges and universities to address the workforce shortage of mental health professionals.

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From CalMatters political reporter Yue Stella Yu:

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants spent $25 million to relieve some financially strapped hospitals by the new fiscal year.

But state senators are skeptical — not because they oppose the plan, but because the governor’s staff can’t say how they arrived at the dollar amount.

During a budget hearing Tuesday, senators unanimously backed the bill, but not before pressing the Treasury Department and the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office for answers — to no avail — about how they calculated the figure, how they determined the criteria and whether the money would be enough to keep those hospitals open.

Guadalupe Manriquez of the state’s finance department told lawmakers that “this is our best estimate,” but did not cite specific figures.

From CalMatters Local News Contributor Kayla Michalovich:

Criminal Justice Advocacy Group on Tuesday released a report The State Board of Victim Compensation is failing in its mission.

California created the first-ever victim compensation program 60 years ago to provide financial assistance for crime recovery costs, such as funeral expenses, loss of income and mental health services to eligible survivors and their families. But survivors and advocates have long raised concerns about the compensation board’s strict criteria and discretion, which they say have blocked and revictimized people who have suffered from violence.

Findings from a new report by Californians for Safety and Justice reveal that the compensation board last year rejected a third of applicants. In 2019, one in 12 survivors denied it.

• Tinish Hollinsexecutive director of Californians for Safety and Justice: “By failing survivors, the state is effectively subsidizing the next generation of violence.”