If passed, Proposition 1 spells tradeoffs for Sonoma County

It’s Prop. 1 and only on the statewide March 5th primary ballot statewide.

Governor Gavin Newsom is championing Proposition 1 as a solution to finally get California’s homelessness crisis under control.

Opponents, like Sonoma County's League of Women Voters chapter, say Prop. 1 will force counties across California to cut back on important mental health services.

Something Melissa Ladrech said could happen.

"So we'd lose funds for treatment because funds are being diverted for housing," Ladrech said.

Ladrech is coordinator for the Mental Health Services Act at Sonoma County’s Behavioral Health Department.

She said what Prop. 1 really represents is trade offs.

"We do need more money for housing in this county," Ladrech said. "And so that's definitely a plus that we'll have more funds there, unfortunately its gonna be taking money away from treatment."

Prop. 1 has two parts to it.

One component is the $6.4 billion bond measure, $4.4 billion of which would go to constructing 10,000 residential and in-patient treatment beds for those struggling with mental health and addiction issues.

The remaining money would go towards permanent supportive housing; both for construction and for rent subsidies, with half set aside specifically for veterans.

The second component to Prop. 1 requires counties to change how they spend their mental health dollars; shifting the priority to building housing for chronically homeless individuals.

Ladrech said the current core services Sonoma County's Behavioral Health Division spends money on are things like, "community mental health clinics that are throughout the county."

"They would also be some of the prevention programs," Ladrech said. "Some of the prevention programs we have would be supporting LGBTQI+, so groups for youth. We have a primarily African American church that we support. They do a lot of kind of skill building, resilience building, for both youth and adults."

Ladrech said Prop. 1 would spell big changes for how much is put towards those core services.

"We're currently spending about 40% of our budget on that," Ladrech said. "That 40% piece of the pie would be shrunk down to about 17%."

According to Ladrech, Prop. 1 would shift prevention programs to the state level instead of local administration. She said Prop 1 also expands the pool of people who can receive county services.

"To include those that have substance use disorders," Ladrech said. "They don't have to have a mental health disorder as well. And so a lot more folks would be qualifying for services. Yet we're gonna have less money for treatment because we're going to be funding the housing."

Ladrech said no decisions have been made on what programs would be eliminated should Prop. 1 pass.