As ‘fixes’ multiply, homeless remain
A year ago, before COVID-19 changed everything, Gov. Gavin Newsom dedicated almost all of his State of the State address to one issue: homelessness.
“The problem has persisted for decades — caused by massive failures in our mental health system and disinvestment in our social safety net — exacerbated by widening income inequality and California’s housing shortage. The hard truth is we ignored the problem,” Newsom told legislators.
Newsom pledged to attack the issue with money and “replace California’s scattershot approach with a coordinated crisis-level response.”
“We will be laser-focused on getting the mentally ill out of tents and into treatment,” Newsom promised. “We will provide stable funding to get sustainable results. We will tackle the underproduction of affordable housing in California. And we will do all of this with real accountability and consequences.”
A few weeks later, Newsom declared an emergency as COVID-19 attacked the state but with federal relief funds, he launched two programs, RoomKey to move a relative handful of street dwellers into hotel rooms, and HomeKey to provide some with more permanent housing. He often made personal appearances to tout their virtues.
With the state’s revenue picture much brighter than previously feared, Newsom’s 2021-22 budget proposes to expand services and facilities for the homeless.
When issues such as homelessness arise in the public consciousness, politicians often offer shiny new proposals to signify concern. Over time, the state becomes overloaded with agencies and programs that purport to deal with the same problem, but often overlap and compete for financing.
That’s how California wound up with nine agencies and 41 programs created to deal with homelessness while the underlying problem still festers.
The syndrome is visible in other areas as well, with job training and child care two very obvious examples. To politicians, doing something new may polish their images while fixing something old lacks political sex appeal.