On busy Venice Boulevard, Pat Raphael parked his home in front of an arts center near a grassy patch of sidewalk. He bought his own van for $400 after his RV was involved in a hit-and-run a few months ago. he said, sitting on a makeshift sofa sheltered from the sun. “We need every type of housing expansion you can think of.”
Homelessness in California has been at the center of many political campaigns for decades. The latest statewide initiative was proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in the form of Proposition 1, “Treatment, Not Tents.” The approximately 70-page bill consists of two parts. One would repurpose funds from the Mental Health Services Act (MSHA), also known as the “billionaires’ tax,” and the other would borrow $6.4 billion in bonds to fund facilities and housing. .
According to the Legislative Analysis Service, the measure would create mental health and substance abuse treatment sites for up to 6,000 people and 4,350 housing units in converted hotels, motels and other buildings, including 2,350 units dedicated to veterans. ) may be constructed. However, starting in 2026, counties receiving MHSA funds will be required to allocate funds from treatment to housing and individual support.
“This is a big proposal,” said Eran Schultz, director of policy and strategy for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH). “The biggest change is that it will take 30% of the funding from counties and counties will be forced to spend it on housing, primarily in the form of rental subsidies.”
The bill also mandates that MHSA funds be used to treat substance use disorders (SUDs), but provides no additional funding for these services. “There are big questions about how we will find the money to pay for the new substance use disorder services required under Prop. 1,” Schultz said.
As of January 2023, there were an estimated 181,339 people experiencing homelessness, representing 28% of the total homeless population in the United States. Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR). The number of people experiencing homelessness in California has also increased by more than 51,000 since 2018, despite the state’s efforts to reduce homelessness through funding. In 2022, the state allocated $7.1 billion to reduce homelessness, and the number of unhoused people increased by 3%.
