Funding for Many Vital Programs Likely to Be Chopped
California Governor Gavin Newsom is working on a state budget plan that bridges the gap between projected state spending and actual revenue after tax collections, which are notoriously volatile due to the state’s reliance on the tech industry, came in weaker than expected. California is used to a cycle of budgetary feast or famine, and this year, it looks like a famine.
According to the official press release, the Governor’s plan “cuts spending, makes government leaner, and preserves core services without new taxes on hardworking Californians.” Still, housing advocates describe the plan as “pretty dire.”
Newsom is tightening the belt across many different sectors in order to cover the deficit of billions and billions of dollars. Education, health care, and various social services are seeing significant cuts under the new budget proposal, and no one is happy about it. We’ll be focusing on the proposed cuts to housing programs and homelessness services for obvious reasons. Here’s what’s on the chopping block:
Multifamily Housing Program and First Time Homebuyer Program
The Multifamily Housing Program is a crucial part of California’s affordable housing initiative. It focuses on helping the state’s lowest-income residents maintain stable housing. However, Newsom wants to deplete the program of its $325 million in funding.
Budget cuts would also hit the state’s first-time home buyer program for $152 million, moving the goalposts even further away for anyone struggling to achieve the relative security of home ownership in the notoriously expensive California housing market.
Foreclosure Intervention Housing Preservation Program
FIHPP is an anti-foreclosure fund begun in 2021 to ensure that the current stock of affordable housing remains affordable into the future. However, that future may only last a couple of years now, as Governor Newsom has proposed cutting the program’s operating budget in half.
FIHPP was provided funding of $485 million to sustain its operation through 2027. The program was designed to keep affordable housing stock out of the hands of corporate investors by allowing tenants and community groups like nonprofits and community land trusts opportunities and assistance in buying their homes instead of being displaced. Of course, this is all in theory since Newsom had frozen the program in January 2024, before any of that money was spent.
Homeless, Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program
This is California’s primary source of funding for general homeless services. It currently has no permanent funding source but relies on the governor deciding to fund it in times of surplus, which he has done for the past three years. Without another infusion of cash this year, advocates say that some shelters across the state will be forced to close their doors. Instead of supplying additional funding to this program, Newsom’s budget proposal actually takes $260 million back out of it.
Behavioral Health Housing Bridge Program
The Behavioral Health Housing Bridge Program started in 2022 with a focus on providing safe housing for people with serious mental illnesses or substance use disorders. It is also the primary source of housing for people forced into involuntary treatment through Governor Newsom’s controversial CARE Court system. This is the part that makes it so sinister for him to now turn around and suggest a $132.5 million budget cut for this program in the coming fiscal year, followed by a further $207.5 million cut in the next.
The impact of these cuts will depend on the implementation. If the program simply stops taking in as many people, that’s probably a good thing. The fewer people subjected to medical and psychological treatment by the state without their consent, the better, which is a sentiment I’m sure anyone who’s ever uttered the phrase “free Britney” can agree with.
But suppose they decide to pivot and offer the involuntary commitment without the housing, which was arguably the only good part of the program. In that case, they’re making a flawed system even worse. At that point, CARE courts would just be rounding people up off the streets, forcing them to submit to whatever treatment they deem necessary, and then releasing them to start the whole cycle over again. Chilling.
Why Is This Happening?
Governor Newsom is no stranger to publicity stunts when it comes to funding homeless services in his state. Remember the time he (briefly) withheld funding from cities and counties that didn’t have ambitious enough plans for addressing homelessness in their communities? Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like these budgetary changes will be so swiftly reversed.
Newsom certainly makes a lot of political moves regarding homelessness in California, spinning it this way and that to suit whichever political winds are blowing. I’m sure that this situation is no different—a calculated political play designed to further his own ambitions at the expense of the state’s most vulnerable residents whom he professes to care about only when politically convenient.
At the end of the day, these budgetary cuts reflect the things he thinks he can get away with cutting. There would have to be a considerable outpouring (or withholding) of support to change his mind. At a certain level, politicians tend to only respond to threats to their own personal plans rather than such mundane concerns as right and wrong, but losing the support of tons of voters and sponsors still tends to have an effect.
Changes Are Needed, But Not Like This
After recent audits revealed misuse of funds, missed opportunities, and middling results for large programs, it makes sense to dig deeper. We need transparency in methods and tracking of outcomes, more funding for programs that are working, and a reimagining of the programs that are not. What we’re getting is more akin to Governor Newsom taking his ball and going home.
With a little creativity, different solutions that are both more effective and economical could have been implemented. We write about solutions like that all the time. Next time Newsom is in a budget bind and needs to save some money while getting even better results, maybe he should read more Invisible People!
