Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) claimed his state set the “national model” for responding to homelessness.
During his announcement of a $3.3 billion fund to confront homelessness, Newsom said, “The state of California saw a decline in veteran’s homelessness, we are the national model.”
“What Proposition 1 did was it reinforced that model, provided more resources to advance that model, and we’re very excited to put those dollars to work.”
Representative Kevin Kiley (R-CA) said Newsom’s statement was the “height of delusion.”
A recent state audit found that California spent $24 billion over the past five years to combat homelessness without consistently tracking whether the massive expenditure improved the situation.
The audit analyzed five programs that received a combined $13.7 billion in funding. It found that only two programs were “likely cost-effective”: one converting hotel and motel rooms into housing and another providing housing assistance to prevent families from becoming homeless.
The audit also identified three other programs receiving $9.4 billion since 2020 that could not be evaluated due to a lack of data.
