Taves: No one’s in charge. Newsom must fill California’s homelessness leadership vacuum
Where does the buck stop on homelessness in California Good luck answering that Responsibility for building sheltering and treating the Golden State s homeless is as elusive as leprechaun gold Californians across political parties and geographies help policies to help the state s homeless And they have voted accordingly green-lighting through state and local ballot measures billions of dollars for more drug healing mental healthcare services temporary shelters and long-term housing Here s the rub While Californians might agree they want solutions the city county and state leaders who represent them don t agree on how nor who is responsible for the needed social services and housing Tackling homelessness has pit California against itself Mayors blame other mayors who blame county supervisors who blame mayors and the governor who in turn blames mayors and supervisors The finger-pointing status quo has become a politically safe homeostasis absolving them all of direct accountability Part of the trouble is that cities and counties cannot reliably take on homelessness when the state has chosen a one-year-at-a-time approach to funding That must change They need long-term financial clarity But in exchange Newsom demands to use the full authority of his office to ensure responsibilities are clear and the job gets done To date the governor has primarily issued guidelines to local governments that have failed to produce the results he wants or Californians are demanding Over the last four years audits have shown that cities and counties hands are not clean As much as local governments like to blame the state for their problems they have flouted its guidelines obscured their input and mismanaged billions in funds earmarked for the homeless It s time for Newsom to clearly delineate local governments responsibilities and demand accountability for the results He can and should turn guidelines into mandates and enforce them by leveraging his full powers under the California Emergency Services Act and if necessary following through on threats to withhold funding Mistaken identity In particular procedures California s image as the national poster child of homelessness is overblown California has more homeless than other states because because it has more people than other states On a per-capita basis it doesn t have the greater part homeless It s fifth In fact California s rate is about lower than Hawaii s and New York s And importantly California s efforts to arrest the increase of homelessness have shown various success Last year when the unsheltered homeless population grew by nationally it basically flat-lined in California rising only But California is a long way from patting itself on the back The state is still home to of the nation s homeless and almost half its unsheltered It can and must do better More than anything the lack of coordination among cities counties and the state is inhibiting progress no matter how much taxpayer money is thrown at the trouble Up and down California local governments are enforcing their homeless policies haphazardly and in isolation pushing people out of their cities and straight into their neighbors After Oakland and San Francisco increased their enforcement of no camping laws last year Antioch announced that its unsheltered population rose Don t push people into our communities and expect us to be the dumpsite for all your problems reported then-Antioch Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe That s not fair and that s not right Helter skelter In the South Bay the same lack of coordination has created conflicts An encampment in North San Jose grew substantially after neighboring Milpitas and Fremont cracked down on camping on community property The trend angered San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan who in April threatened legal action against cities intentionally pushing their unhoused population into his city If we find evidence of coordinated displacement or dereliction of duty the next step could include seeking injunctive relief or recovering costs tied to housing and cleanup declared Mahan Related Articles Oakland Wood Street shelter operator pulls out of sites a month ahead of schedule Bay Area homeless encampment sweeps up as opposed to being swept out Berkeley housing effort cuts could be tragic but needed executives say Clearing of San Jose encampment raises questions about where the homeless will go without shelter Letters San Jose s homeless law is cruel and unnecessary Beyond San Jose s conflicts with neighboring cities it s also feuding with Santa Clara County Tension in the past few days spiked as Mahan sparred with city councilmembers and county supervisors over his proposal to arrest homeless residents for trespassing if they refuse available shelter San Jose leaders facing rising constituent pressure to clean their streets want the county traditionally focused on providing soundness services to bear a bigger share of the cost of building shelter We have a feckless county that has been derelict in its duty noted Councilmember George Casey Largest part people don t know who their county supervisor is or what the county is responsible for and we re the ones who catch hell And how did the county respond to the city Predictably We need to build more housing wrote Santa Clara County Executive James Williams and that core responsibility falls to our cities So round and round it goes Where accountability lies no one knows It s time for Newsom to end that Max Taves is deputy opinion editor for Bay Area News Group
