With more data showing that the billions California has spent on homelessness doesn’t meet the depth of the problem, it raises questions about whether another billion can fix it.
Instead of a State of the State address before the Legislature, Gov. Gavin Newsom this year sent a letter to lawmakers with information about his four-city policy tour. By starting in Sacramento, it was an opportunity to speak about $1 billion in homelessness funding, including plans to build 1,200 so-called tiny homes for many of those who need shelter.
But it’s unrealistic to say the newest proposals go far enough, Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow in business and economics at the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), said in an email response to the Northern California Record.
“No, the $1 billion pledge by the governor will not address the homelessness problem effectively,” Winegarden said. “California has already spent billions of dollars on the problem over the past several years with little to show for these expenditures.”
And a new Public Policy Institute study shows the California’s homeless population is 6 percent higher than in 2020.
“While money alone is not the answer, Governor Newsom needs to address the problem by implementing a more comprehensive program that focuses on treatment; enforcing no-camping laws; redefining theft of $950 of goods as a felony (and ideally substantially lower); using homeless courts to encourage people to seek treatment; rely on private charities providing homeless services to the extent possible; and build/maintain cost effective/safe shelters,” Winegarden said.
A recent Quinnipiac University Poll shows almost 90 percent of Californians say homelessness is a very serious problem.
Newsom said the 1,200 tiny homes will be spread across four cities, including Sacramento and Los Angeles.
Winegarden noted it seems to be a continuation of his housing first approach.
“This is the same logic behind the Project Homekey program, that has spent billions of dollars to convert hotels and motels to address the crisis,” Winegarden said. "Given that the numbers of homeless in the state has increased by tens of thousands since the program was implemented, it is difficult to call this approach a success. His tiny home proposal is just another iteration of this housing first approach, and will likely result in the same failed outcome. It's not that tiny homes may not be part of the answer – they could be if they can be built in a cost-effective manner and used as part of a ‘housing earned’ approach. But this is not the Governor's plan.”
Nor have the proposals addressed concerns put forth by advocates suing San Francisco over affordable housing, he added.
“Because housing is unaffordable in San Francisco (and the state more broadly) due to overly-restrictive local zoning regulations and CEQA,” Winegarden said. “Due to these regulatory burdens, building homes in San Francisco and California takes significantly more time. The regulations also significantly add to the costs of constructing homes. Thus, the cost burdens raise the prices of homes, which are then amplified by the fundamental housing shortages that result when housing supply cannot meet current demand. Addressing housing affordability problems requires addressing these regulatory problems.”
Newsom, who has said he is not planning to run for U.S. president, has pledged to cut homelessness by 15 percent by 2025.
“Homelessness is a complex problem that cannot be solved by simply building more homes,” Winegarden said. “It requires a comprehensive approach that first focuses on the causal factors driving homelessness. Often, those factors are problems of drug addiction and mental illness in addition to economic reasons. California must adopt policies that help people based on the causal factors that are relevant to them.”
Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of legislators has requested a state audit on homelessness spending.