Dan Walters: Billions of dollars later, California’s homeless crisis persists under Newsom

When asked by pollsters, Californians repeatedly rate homelessness as one of their top concerns — and for good reason.

This year’s federal count of Californians who lack housing neared 186,000, by far the most of any state and about 5,000 people higher than the previous year.

Gavin Newsom began his governorship six years ago with many promises of decisive action on major issues, among them housing and homelessness. He pledged to appoint a homelessness czar to attack the crisis, and he and the Legislature allocated billions of dollars.

A 2023 report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office pegged direct spending by four state agencies since Newsom became governor at $20 billion, but didn’t include spending by other agencies or local governments. The state’s auditor, Grant Parks, cited $24 billion by nine state agencies in a report last spring that castigated Newsom’s Interagency Council on Homelessness for failing to fully track how billions of dollars were spent or determining which programs were effective.

As the crisis continued, reporters questioned Newsom about having a czar who could cut through red tape and attack homelessness effectively. Newsom snapped back, “You want to know who’s the homeless czar? I’m the homeless czar in the state of California.”

While seemingly taking personal responsibility for combating homelessness — and despite the state auditor’s criticism of his administration — Newsom has more recently blamed local governments for failing to spend state homelessness grants effectively, often threatening to cut off their money if they didn’t make a serious dent in the crisis.

A few weeks after Parks issued his report, Newsom and legislators reached a deal to maintain homelessness grants to local governments but he reiterated demands that they do a better job.

“What’s happening on the streets has to be a top priority,” Newsom said, declaring that local officials will be held accountable for what happens. “People have to see and feel the progress and the change and if they’re not … I am not interested in continuing the status quo.

“I’m not interested in funding failure any longer,” he added. “So I’m going to speak for myself, just one guy that’s got three more appropriation cycles in front of him. I want to see results. Everybody wants to see results.”

Local officials clearly resent Newsom’s blame-shifting, arguing that receiving only annual grants makes it difficult for them to establish long-term programs to lift homeless people from their plight and prevent more Californians from joining their ranks.

They have a point, but it’s also true that local efforts to combat homelessness have run afoul of the same bureaucratic inertia as state programs — very visibly in Los Angeles, the epicenter of California’s homelessness crisis.

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, created by the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County to deal with homelessness, has an $875 million budget. Last month, the county’s auditor-controller issued an audit that excoriated the agency for routinely late payments to contractors, failing to track how money is spent, and shifting money from one program to another despite differing purposes.

County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who requested the audit, said she will seek to shift the agency’s duties to a new county-only department.

“The audit findings make clear the structure we have for service delivery is not working. We need greater accountability and bold action,” Horvath said. “The public is frustrated and there is no time to waste in delivering meaningful results.”

Newsom’s governorship will end in two years, after which he will likely mount a campaign for president. It’s certain that California’s homelessness crisis will still be highly visible and a weapon for Newsom’s opponents.

Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. His commentary comes via CalMatters.org, a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more, go to calmatters.org/commentary.