RED MEANS FAILURE, green means progress. Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced a new tracker tool this week that shows how local agencies are using state funds to eradicate homelessness and rates their success.
The concept is to pool data on grants and reporting so counties can watch other counties; the public can watch state spending; and the governor can make the argument for granting or cutting funds. Are governments meeting their housing element? Are they providing behavioral services? Are they managing the removal of encampments? Items that are out of compliance show in red.
“We also have to have a claw back provision if we continue to see red. We just can’t fund red because that’s funding failure,” Newsom said.
Newsom demonstrated the website, www.accountability.ca.gov, at a news conference Monday, following the announcement of the fifth and sixth round of Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention grants from the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The HHAP grant program, started by Newsom in 2019, provided grants to local governments to address homelessness. They are meant to be used for permanent housing, rental assistance and subsidies, case management and regional responses.
Several Bay Area jurisdictions, including Alameda County and the city of San Jose, declared homeless states of emergency in 2023. That same year, Newsom initiated CARE Court, from the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Act. San Francisco was one of the first counties to implement the new state law, which included a civil court process designed to provide community-based behavioral health services to residents living with untreated schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders. It allowed someone who cannot help themselves to receive care upon the request of someone else.
Another tool in the toolbox
Speaking before the governor’s presentation, Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Johnson also described Senate Bill 43, which further modifies conservatorship laws.
“They protect individuals with serious mental illness or severe substance use disorder, who are at most risk of harm to themselves,” she said.
“With SB 43, counties have another tool in the toolbox to serve the most vulnerable, especially when they are in crisis and in imminent danger. You can search the dashboard to see which counties have already implemented SB 43, which goes into effect for all counties by 2026,” Johnson said.
Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency Secretary Tomiquia Moss announced that 14 projects will receive $118.7 million across the state. In addition to more Encampment Resolution Grant awards going out the door, the state will be making available another round of multiyear HHAP grants that total more than $760 million, she said.
The user-friendly site shows recent progress for each of California’s 58 counties. It presents a snapshot of housing units completed between 2019 and 2023, the change in unsheltered homelessness from 2023 to 2024, and people receiving behavioral health services. It is essentially a compliance tracker for those asking for money from the state.
“For a portion of these funds, to be compliant with your housing element, it requires more focus and more streamlined outcomes, and data and results and plans specific for encampments,” Newsom said, emphasizing encampments as his biggest concern.
On the site, counties are searchable by name or population, and progress bars show how much has been accomplished to date for each grant. Newsom described the site as offering incentives and disincentives, or “carrots and sticks.”
“If you went by population, you would jump right into LA County and there’s three areas of focus on housing, homelessness and behavioral health,” he said.
“And you’ll see on this accountability site the specific metrics now that we have — green and red — signifying success or alignment with state laws and goals, or areas where we have weakness in areas that need to be addressed on the housing plan,” Newsom said.
