Gov. Newsom Highlights Plan to Confront Homelessness Crisis

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom Jan. 11, visited a homeless encampment in San Diego to highlight his proposed additional $2 billion package – for a total of $14 billion – to the state’s multi-year plan to confront the homelessness crisis, which will create 55,000 new housing units and treatment slots when fully implemented.  

Under Gov. Newsom’s Project Roomkey and Homekey programs, California has provided temporary shelter for 50,000 Californians and helped another 8,000 secure more permanent housing through the state’s purchase of motels, hotels and other buildings. In 2021, Gov. Newsom invested a historic $12 billion to help get the most vulnerable people off the streets and into the mental and behavioral health services they need. The California Blueprint will bolster last year’s investments with an additional $1.5 billion for behavioral health bridge housing to get people off the street and into treatment, and $500 million toward encampment resolution grants for local jurisdictions to implement short- and long-term rehousing strategies for people experiencing homelessness in encampments around the state. 

The California Blueprint also expands Gov. Newsom’s Returning Home Well program, a pandemic response to provide transitional housing and mental health services to people exiting incarceration. Further, the Blueprint calls for expanding Medi-Cal benefits to include mobile crisis response. For the first time ever, California will support mobile crisis response as a covered benefit under Medi-Cal for everyone eligible – investing $1.4 billion over five years so that people experiencing homelessness will receive better, more timely behavioral health care, especially in times of crisis.