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The Wall St Journal
Democratic governor threatens to withhold funds from local leaders in dispute over who bears more responsibility for the issue
Christine Mai-DucNov. 27, 2022 8:00 am ET
Mr. Newsom recently put a temporary freeze on $1 billion of state grants for city and county homelessness programs. He also rejected a slate of proposals from local officials outlining how they would spend the money, saying the measures would have reduced homelessness statewide by 2% between 2020 and 2024, which he deemed inadequate.
People who work in state politics say Mr. Newsom’s policy moves and comments echo many Californians’ rising frustration over housing costs and homelessness, and indicate a willingness by the governor, who recently won re-election, to pick fights with local leaders to try to get results in his second term.
Mayors and county officials, meanwhile, have said they need the Newsom administration to provide reliable, recurring revenue streams and a cohesive statewide framework to address the issue. Instead, they said, most state money comes in one-time allocations with little guidance.
Many mayors were also rankled when Mr. Newsom told the Los Angeles Times he froze the homelessness funds because local leaders needed to “deliver damn results,” adding that he would be willing to play “mayor of California” if they didn’t.
Local officials said withholding money they were counting on would only make the problem worse.
“Lives are on the line and we can’t afford for this work to get mired in more politics,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said.
Just over a week ago, Mr. Newsom met with more than 100 local leaders and agreed to release the frozen funds—but only to jurisdictions that agreed to submit more ambitious proposals by the end of the month.
A spokesman for Mr. Newsom said 21 jurisdictions have agreed and are expected to receive funds as early as this week.
Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed to release $1 billion in state funding to fight homelessness only to local governments that submit more ambitious action plans.Photo: Janie Har/Associated Press
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, a Democrat who flew to Sacramento for the meeting, said he and 10 other big-city mayors are asking the governor to dedicate $2 billion annually toward grants for local governments to address homelessness starting next year.
“If this is the biggest priority in the state and you have a budget in the hundreds of billions of dollars. I don’t think that’s out of the question,” Mr. Gloria said.
Conflicts over who should take the lead on homelessness have been simmering for years in California. The state has some of the highest housing costs in the nation and more than 116,000 residents sleeping on the street on any given night, the most in the U.S., according to an analysis of data from local governments by the nonprofit news site CalMatters.
The number of homeless people in California has grown roughly 15% since 2019, even as Mr. Newsom oversaw the largest increase in funding for homeless programs in the state’s history. California has dedicated some $15 billion toward the issue since the start of the pandemic.
The money is largely administered by local governments. Some, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, have also raised taxes to fund more homeless services and affordable housing construction.
Problems including bureaucratic slowdowns and community resistance have made it difficult to deliver services, according to advocates. And researchers say even as some people are successfully sheltered, others will keep falling into homelessness until housing becomes more affordable.
Trying to spur progress, Mr. Newsom has also forced cities and counties to adopt more aggressive goals for planning and building housing, taken some local power over land use away, and begun an investigation into why San Francisco has the longest timelines in the state for building housing.
San Francisco Democratic Mayor London Breed welcomed the investigation, which she said was needed, though some city leaders said it was too focused on market-rate housing.
Many local leaders have said that in addition to providing regular funding, Mr. Newsom needs to help develop statewide policies to make homelessness programs more effective.
Darrell Steinberg, the Democratic mayor of Sacramento, has called for the state to create a right to housing that would guarantee homeless people access to shelter.
“When something matters, we require it,” he said. “If it doesn’t matter that much, we leave it to the 500-plus cities and 58 counties to do their best.”
Jason Elliott, Mr. Newsom’s top housing adviser, said local officials have long had control over homeless programs, as well as most land-use decisions that could spur more home-building.
“The state’s vision is realized locally,” Mr. Elliott said. “The governor is responsible for setting policy, setting the tone…local governments are responsible for implementing solutions.”
Write to Christine Mai-Duc at christine.maiduc@wsj.com