Gov. Gavin Newsom got here to Skid Row Tuesday to announce new state funding that can carry $380 million to the Los Angeles area for homeless housing, shelter, rental help, outreach and prevention.
The fifth tranche of the Homeless Housing Help and Prevention program will distribute $827 million statewide and include extra stringent accountability and transparency measures than up to now, Newsom stated.
The town of Los Angeles will obtain $160 million and the county $94 million. The rest will go to the Los Angeles Homeless Providers Authority and the separate homeless companies companies of Glendale, Lengthy Seashore and Pasadena.
Newsom stated a key component of the brand new accountability is a requirement for cities and counties to current their plans as a area underneath a contract establishing “an expectation of roles and accountability” amongst all of the companies.
He was joined by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, county supervisors Hilda Solis and Kathryn Barger, and Va Lecia Adams Kellum, chief govt of the Los Angeles Homeless Providers Authority.
Bass stated she, the supervisors and the homelessness authority have moved past the bickering and finger pointing that hampered regional efforts up to now to work on a unified entrance.
“That is an instance of labor that we have now been doing for the final couple of years which is bringing each stage of presidency collectively,” she stated.
Newsom stated the grant program, which dedicated $2.4 billion in its first 4 rounds, was shaped within the final 12 months of former Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration, when about $500 million was spent with “no accountability, no expectations.”
“Since then we have now considerably elevated the investments however we have now additionally elevated the accountability, transparency and the expectations,” Newsom stated.
Although he didn’t go into element, Newsom stated extra accountability could be by “a framework of expectation and reporting that will now not be at a quarterly or biannual foundation however a month-to-month foundation.”
The announcement drew muted criticism from Republican State Sen. Roger Niello (R-Honest Oaks). He recommended Los Angeles officers for making progress on getting folks off the road and Newsom for promising accountability.
However, in gentle of a latest report by the State Auditor’s Workplace concluding that the state has didn’t adequately monitor the outcomes of its huge spending on homelessness packages, Niello remained skeptical.
“He used the phrase accountable and accountability so many instances that if I had a nickel for each time he used it, I’d have sufficient to pay for the lunch I’m going to,” Niello stated. “If previous is prologue, these are simply phrases.”
Homelessness spending ought to in the end be directed at getting folks to self-sufficiency, Niello stated.
“Inform us how a lot you’re spending and inform us what the precise outcomes are with respect to self-sufficiency.”