By Ethan Varian : mercurynews – excerpt (audio)
A state audit last year found California had failed to track $24 billion in homelessness funds
Gov. Gavin Newsom is again threatening to withhold money to address homelessness from local governments that are failing to make progress in moving people off the street.
In a virtual news conference on Monday, Newsom announced that cities and counties that do not meet certain benchmarks — such as closing more encampments and finalizing plans to build more housing — could lose out on their share of hundreds of millions of dollars in future state homelessness grants…
Newsom has repeatedly made similar threats in recent months, including when announcing an executive order last summer directing state agencies to work with cities and counties to ramp up encampment sweeps and move camp residents into shelters. So far, relatively little state homelessness money has been withheld from local governments…(more)
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Newsom has repeatedly made similar threats in recent months, including when announcing an executive order last summer directing state agencies to work with cities and counties to ramp up encampment sweeps and move camp residents into shelters. So far, relatively little state homelessness money has been withheld from local governments…
Some local officials, however, dismissed Monday’s announcement as political “spin” and blasted Newsom for “blaming local governments” for the crisis.
“The governor’s threat to block future funding for local governments puts headlines above solutions,” said Graham Knaus, chief executive of the California State Association of Counties, in a statement. “Progress will remain frustratingly slow until we work together to address the gaps in responsibility at all levels of government — including the state.”…
On Monday, the state also launched a website to monitor county-level metrics related to housing, homelessness and mental health. Those metrics include recently completed housing units, shifts in local homeless populations, the number of people connected to homeless services and a partial accounting of state homelessness funding for each county.
Newsom said state officials plan to add more tracking measures to the site and consult them when determining whether to accept local governments’ applications for future homelessness funding.