Governor of California Gavin Newsom said he will appeal to state legislators with a proposal on the allocation in 2020 year, $ 1 billion to overcome the growing crisis of homelessness, in which more than 100,000 state residents were on the street. That’s twice what is spent on the crisis of housing affordability in California in the current fiscal year.
$ 650 million of that billion are requested to send to the local authorities for the construction of temporary emergency shelters and so-called navigation centers to help the homeless to access public services. Although social scientists once believed that long-term housing is the key to the fight against homelessness, an increasing number of experts bent to the strategy to immediately bring someone from the street, even if the solution to the problem of housing is temporary.
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Another $ 150 million will be spent for the recruitment of psychologists to tackle the root causes of homelessness, those who left housing voluntarily due to problems in relations with relatives or other non-economic reasons. $ 20 million will go to legal assistance to those subjected to eviction. Another $ 120 million pledged to the pilot program to address the many other causes of homelessness such as disorders associated with substance abuse, mental health and medical treatment.
The rapid population growth in California has caused a housing shortage that has even the families of middle-class, they are paying increasingly high rates for rental housing. The state has built about 77,000 new housing units in 2018, is less than in 2017. Budget proposal the Governor will redirect $ 500 million to stimulate local communities to build new homes for residents with mixed income.
