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https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article239179853.html
JANUARY 13, 2020
A state task force co-chaired by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is calling for a statewide measure to be placed on the November ballot that would require localities and the state to meet aggressive goals to house the homeless.
Localities that fail to meet benchmarks could face court action from the state Attorney General’s office or other public officials.
If the Legislature, in a two-thirds vote, places the constitutional amendment on the ballot by June 25, and the voters approve it, California would become the first state with such a mandate.
“Homelessness is a crisis of epic and increasing magnitude, yet everything we do is optional and voluntary,” Steinberg said. “We seek to turn that on its head.”
The proposal has undergone a massive overhaul since July, when Steinberg first proposed it as a statewide “right to shelter” mandate modeled after the state of New York.
But that controversial proposal would have put the burden on the homeless people themselves, requiring the more than 100,000 Californians sleeping outdoors to accept shelter if it’s available. The new version instead places the burden on the state, counties and cities to get homeless indoors. It also focuses on permanent housing, though shelters with services may be part of the plan for localities where housing is more available.
Philip Mangano, a former homelessness czar for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, said he had concerns with the original version, but strongly supports it in its current form.
“We’re in a much better place than at the beginning,” said Mangano, who sits on the 13-member task force, called the Council of Regional Homeless Advisors. “It’s not on the providers, not on the backs of the homeless people, not relying on a quirky federal government, but relying on cities and counties in California to create strategies.”
Under the ballot measure, starting on Jan. 1, 2021, localities would embark on a year of setting “aggressive but reasonable” benchmarks and timelines, Steinberg said. Then, starting Jan 1. 2022, any jurisdictions, including the state, that do not meet their goals could face court action.
“The city is not a health and human services agency,” Steinberg said. “We’ve dived into the breach for all the right reasons ... but we don’t have to, and no jurisdictions have to. In fact, some jurisdictions are not doing as much as they could or should.”
Steinberg declined to name those jurisdictions.
Mangano said very few jurisdictions saw homeless populations decline in the latest federally-required Point in Time counts conducted about a year ago.
“The increase in homelessness in our state was pretty much pandemic,” Mangano said.
In Sacramento County, about 5,570 people are homeless on any given night, mostly unsheltered and mostly in the city, the count found. It was a 19 percent increase from 2017.
The city of Sacramento plans to use about $14 million in state money to open two 100-bed shelters with services this spring, which will stay open for at least two years.
But even localities doing a lot can do more, Mangano said.
“Every city needs to up their game,” Mangano said.
The mandate would also require localities to spend any funding it’s sitting on that can be used on housing the homeless, Steinberg said.
Counties would not be allowed to hang onto funding they receive from the state’s Mental Health Services Act, for example, but would instead be required to spend some of the money to help house homeless people who suffer from mental illness.
In 2017, a state audit found counties and local mental health agencies were sitting on $2.5 billion unspent MHSA funding. In August, Sacramento County had $126 million in unspent MHSA money, though it now has a plan to spend the money much faster.
If the mandate had been in place, municipalities would not have been allowed to hold onto that money for extended periods of time.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office has said he is also considering changes to make sure MHSA money is spent helping the homeless.
“They need to spend it or we’re going to revert those dollars back to the state and reinvest it,” Newsom said Friday during a news conference to unveil his proposed budget. “We want to focus more acuity on homelessness, the justice system, first-episode psychosis for youth and young adult and workforce. That’s the mantra coming from Mayor Steinberg and (Newsom mental health advisor) Tom Insel and they’re right.”
The new law could also bar municipalities from allowing neighborhood complaints from shutting down feasible affordable housing and shelter sites.
“It would override any local siting decision that stands in the way of cities and counties doing enough to set aside the requisite space to bring people home,” Steinberg said.
Newsom told reporters during a news conference on homelessness in Nevada County on Monday that he supports the overall goal of requiring local governments to provide more services to help the homeless, but he stopped short of endorsing the mandate.
“I broadly support the direction they’re going. We’re hoping to do some pilot programs before we scale it, and I hope we have a very robust debate,” Newsom said. “I would lean in that direction because I think more obligation needs to be placed on all levels of government.”
Sacramento could be one of the municipalities that launches a pilot program to show how it could work, using local ordinances, but the pilots will not slow down the process or timeline, Steinberg said.
In addition to the mandate, the task force also recommended the state invest $500 million statewide to fund board and care facilities, which serve people who cannot fully live independently, such as elderly or those with special health care needs. Such facilities are decreasing in the Los Angeles area, The Los Angeles Times has reported. In the city of Sacramento, the number of licensed board and care facilities declined from 355 in 2015 to 332 in 2018, but increased to 341 in 2019, according to state data.
The California State Association of Counties said it supports the call for increased board and care funding, but raised questions about the mandate.
“A legally enforceable mandate can only work with clarity of who’s obligated to do what and what new sustainable resources will fund it,” the association said in a news release. “That’s the ticket for clear expectations and accountability.”
The task force also recommended Newsom issue executive orders to make it harder for landlords to raise rent under the state’s new rent control law, and to implement a “Safe Sleeping and Parking at Properties” program that can begin immediately.
Researchers estimate people sleep in at least 340 vehicles in Sacramento County, including about 100 children, based on a headcount conducted about a year ago. City officials have discussed opening a parking lot where people can sleep in their cars, which could open as early as this month, but no potential sites have yet been announced.
