Newsom Comes Out Swinging On Homeless Orders: Cities And Counties Comply Or Face De-Funding

For those of you following my ongoing series on the homeless-mental health services debacle in California and, of course, in this county, know that my primary themes are:

1. It’s been 50 years of failed homeless and mental health practices, programs, and policies.
2. You have to accept and understand that the homeless dilemma is the canary in the mine when it comes to analyzing the Unholy Trinity, those three inextricably intertwined maladies of Homelessness, Mental Health Afflictions, and Substance Abuse.

To clear up some of the confusion by folks about the scope of governmental purview over sites off-limits to homeless “settlements” here’s the facts.

Two months ago, the Supreme Court ruled that state and local governments have the authority to enact laws and ordinances that prohibit people from sleeping or camping on sidewalks, shopping malls, residential neighborhoods, and state, city, and county public parks and lands.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, on July 25, Gov. Gav Newsom issued an executive order directing state agencies to adopt policies to sweep encampments on state property, and urged local governments to do the same.

On August 8, a tough-talking Newsom sent an unambiguous message to local governments: clean up homeless encampments now or lose out on state funding next year.

Standing in front of one of three Los Angeles homeless encampments he helped to clear (there’s photo-ops and then there’s photo-ops), Newsom vowed (the governor doesn’t threaten, he vows) to start taking state funding away from cities and counties that are not doing enough to move people out of encampments.

“I want to see results,” Newsom told reporters at a news conference. “I don’t want to read about them. I don’t want to see the data. I want to see it.”

So what exactly is Newsom basing his vow to de-fund cities and counties who refuse to answer his call-to-action?

Here’s what you need to know.

• In 2021, responding to reports that the state’s homeless shelters were dirty and dangerous, the state Legislature crafted a plan: It would require local governments to inspect their shelters after complaints and file annual reports on shelter conditions.
• Three years later, California’s cities and counties have basically ignored the mandate.
• Just 5 of California’s 58 counties — Lake, Los Angeles, Monterey, Orange and Yuba — had filed shelter reports as of this spring.
• Only 4 of the state’s 478 cities filed reports: Fairfield, Petaluma, Santa Rosa and Woodland.
• The State Auditor’s Office released a report demanded by the state Legislature in April that found it’s impossible to figure out if California’s largest homeless programs are working because there’s almost no relevant data to be found. The same was the case with city and county programs.
• “The lack of transparency in our current approach to homelessness is pretty frightening,” said Assemblymember Josh Hoover, who co-authored the request for the audit.

So as I said in a previous piece in this series, if state and local governments have almost no data and lack basic programmatical information, how in the world are they going to solve this 50-plus year dilemma?

That’s the very same question that Newsom must have put to himself prior to issuing his de-funding vow to recalcitrant cities and counties.

Newsom’s August 8 announcement is part of his escalating campaign to push local governments into doing more homeless encampment sweeps. In late July, Newsom ordered state agencies to start clearing encampments on state land. He also pressured local government to do the same, though he cannot legally force them to act, he can (and I think he will) reduce or eliminate local funding to cities and counties that refuse to fall into line.

For local governments that don’t play ball, Newsom would cut their funding, and then, most likely, provide state assistance to run homeless programs, and then send the invoice to the offending local government. In effect, non-compliant local governments would be double-whammied.

So far, so good for Newsom but he must follow through with his “vow.”

Historically dysfunctional county governments like Mendocino, and equally dysfunctional city governments like Ukiah, won’t comply without the de-funding threat that Newsom characterizes as a solemn “vow.”

This county — and the buck stops on the Supervisors’ desks — is hopelessly clueless on homelessness, and the larger struggle between providing life-saving care and services for homeless people (who oftentimes refuse help) while balancing that reality with the other reality of the need and sworn obligation for maintaining public safety. Ditto for the city of Ukiah.

Newsom’s de-funding vow should scare the vinegar out of Mendocino County supervisors, their staff, and for sure their Homeless-Mental Health Industrial Complex private sector “partner” Redwood Community Services, Inc., who are all responsible for the abysmal failures that are homeless policies, practices and programs in this county.

When it comes to the homeless issue, compassion is a two-way street inhabited by both the public and the homeless. Never forget that it is the common, law-abiding, tax-paying citizen who compassionately supports the homeless with all of the money required for all of the services, programs, and care needed so that the homeless are no longer homeless.

The public is fulfilling their obligations on this complex issue, but it’s way past time for our more-than-handsomely compensated elected officials, department heads, and staff to fulfill their obligations and responsibilities here in Mendocino County.

After all, that’s their job, right?