Proposition 1 may be the most important measure on California’s March primary ballot. The $6.3 billion bond measure is a key part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to create drug and mental health treatment beds.
If approved by voters, Proposition 1 would drastically overhaul how the state spends billions of dollars in the fight to end the homelessness crisis. Critics say it will divert billions of dollars from already effective mental health services.
Whatever happens with this measure, there is no question that the problems of homelessness and substance abuse need to be addressed. CBS News Bay Area spoke to someone who tragically knows what happens when the proper resources aren’t available.
Lanesha Moreno finishes her job at the same time every day as a medical assistant. When one job is finished, the next one begins. Her life is full. But she always manages to find time to get in touch with the most important people – her children.
“I actually play Roblox with my kids every night because it’s so important to me that my kids know that I’m there for them. And that’s why we It’s become a habit for us, and it’s become a way for us to connect…It’s when all the “secrets come out,” Moreno said.
She has seen what can happen when that connection is lost. Moreno is one of five children. She grew up watching her youngest brother Salim suffer from undiagnosed mental illness.
“He never got the help he needed. Part of the reason for that was there were no real resources, the only resources were really punitive. So it really became a dead end. “I didn’t really help him,” she recalled.
Salim was addicted to drugs and often disappeared, ending up in prison or on the streets. He passed away a few years ago.
Mental illness runs in her family, but as a Black woman, she felt that seeking help was never an option.
“I don’t need a therapist, I don’t need drugs. My grandmother raised me to be a strong black woman, and that’s our job to figure it out and keep moving forward. But I don’t want to deal with it. As I started, I thought, ‘When I saw my daughter’s symptoms, I knew it was time to break through generational trauma,” Moreno said.
Politics is hardly on her mind. But Proposal 1 was almost definitive.
“Having the resources to get help for substance abuse and mental illness is the difference between life and death, and I think that’s the case for my brother, too. Whatever it is, having the resources to get him somewhere is the difference between life and death. If it had been incorporated, he might be alive today,” she said.
Kate Brady is the president of the San Francisco chapter of NAIMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Her group helped craft Prop. 1, but she admits the issue is complex and that discussions within her local chapter have divided the community.
“We have a lot of housing bills, but we’re not really getting very far,” Brady told CBS News Bay Area. “There is,” he said.
After moving back home with Moreno and taking care of his family, it was time to start another full-time job. She has a degree in psychology from the University of San Francisco, so she could be a lifeline to others who are struggling and need help from someone like her.
“I want people to know that you can be vulnerable with me. I don’t mean to judge you. Maybe we had the same childhood, we had the same experiences and , I understand the trauma that comes with it and I hope that “we can get through it together,” she said.
