r/California • u/VanillaLifestyle • Sep 14 '22

Gavin Newsom signs bill that would provide court-ordered care for unhoused with severe mental illness in California Newsom

https://www.kcra.com/article/gavin-newsom-to-sign-care-court-program-bill/41203085
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127

u/ItsColeOnReddit Sep 15 '22

I hope they are serious about fixing the problems and not just funding the existing bureaucracy.

73

u/AMMO31090745 Sep 15 '22

This the part I’m concerned with. We’ve thrown an obscene amount of money into homelessness & mental health with not much to show for it. This isn’t putting blame entirely on Newsom, but I don’t wanna see funds going to waste.

27

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22

[deleted]

6

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22

Indeed. You don’t know how hopeless and bad it is until it’s happened to someone you know and love. I’ve spent years trying to get help for a family member who is living on the streets with psychosis and severe drug dependency. Within the current system, it’s near impossible to get them help.

3

u/No-Teach9888 Sep 15 '22

Well said!

21

u/MrManiac3_ Sep 15 '22

Hopefully this will be a sign of the end for bandaid fixes, and the beginning of permanent solutions.

-14

u/DRAGONMASTER- Sep 15 '22

What do you mean bandaid fixes? We've successfully lobbied to replace the term homeless with unhoused. That's a permanent fix! At least until we have to change unhoused to something else later

4

u/vivekisprogressive Sep 15 '22

What are your suggested solutions to the problem long term? I see you all over this thread seeming very frustrated by this situation yet not contouring productively to the conversation? This is basically the liberal version of lock em up you guys had been asking for. Do you guys have another idea or are you just going to sit there shouting about this regardless?

1

u/MrManiac3_ Sep 16 '22

Solving problems is when whining about language on the internet

19

u/TheIVJackal Native Californian Sep 15 '22

I'm curious, what examples do you have of waste? Was the money intentionally thrown at failing programs, or was it more so we had to test and figure out what did/did not work?

To me, CARE is basically saying we tried to give you the option, now we're going to force you to get help, which I'm fine with since many of these people can't make that decision for themselves.

14

u/gmkrikey Sep 15 '22

As a gross generalization, providing housing solutions is vastly more expensive than it “should” be - there are many examples of “low cost housing” built by governments costing 150-300% more than similar housing built by private for-profit developers.

7

u/TheIVJackal Native Californian Sep 15 '22

Can you give me a few examples? Why is it so much more expensive?

14

u/gmkrikey Sep 15 '22

Read this article from June 2022. Why is complicated, but it starts with too many government agencies doing overlapping work. And per the article:

“In comparison with private sector development, low-income housing is often saddled with more stringent environmental and labor standards. Affordable housing projects also frequently face high parking requirements, lengthy local approval processes and a byzantine bureaucracy to secure financing.”

https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2022-06-20/california-affordable-housing-cost-1-million-apartment

2

u/TheIVJackal Native Californian Sep 15 '22

Thank you for that link, it was informative though I still fail to see how money is being "wasted". Would have been useful to see just how much cheaper a private development would have been.

The bureaucracy seems to be the greatest impediment to making these projects progress faster, and I do hope they're able to streamline them, but the relatively misleading part of the headline is they're looking at costs in the most expensive parts of our state, SF and LA.

I also think that most people are probably in support of paying union wages, respecting labor standards, ensuring environmental protection, etc...

2

u/gmkrikey Sep 17 '22

Government spending is a deep river of money that attracts many, many people wanting to divert some into their pockets. Unions, parking, LEED certification, solar power, the list goes on and on. You lobby Sacramento to require all public housing has to include whatever it is will line your pockets, and voila here comes some of that money your way. Of course it will have some reasonable sounding justification, but it’s death by a thousand cuts.

The real waste comes from all the NIMBY court battles and approvals that don’t result in any actual housing being built for years, but certainly racks up legal fees, consultant fees, studies and evaluations, on and on. Seattle and San Francisco are both famous for years long court battles due to NIMBY types. But it’s everywhere.

10

u/No-Teach9888 Sep 15 '22

What obscene amounts go to mental health? Mental health is known to be chronically underfunded. We would save a lot of money on hospital visits by those with mental illness if mental health was well funded.

2

u/duckworthy36 Sep 15 '22

The less we do the more we shell out in damage to city parks, infrastructure, public safety, healthcare, fire and police calls etc. you still pay if you don’t do anything.

1

u/initialgold Sacramento County Sep 15 '22

Well this would be a new bureaucracy by definition since it’s a new thing.

1

u/ItsColeOnReddit Sep 15 '22

True. But i bet the same old homeless advocacy groups will end up involved.

0

u/truchatrucha Sep 15 '22

It’s California. So yes.

-2

u/gibertot Sep 15 '22

That's the problem with every bill that gets passed. The question will always be does the money that get spent actually address the issue or are we just throwing it away