Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes California bill to track homelessness spending. What he said

Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected a bill to more closely monitor the state’s spending on homelessness programs and their outcomes.

AB 2093 was authored by Assembly member Josh Hoover, R-Folsom, following a state audit that found the state lacked the data to determine whether the billions spent on homelessness in recent years have been cost-effective.

“While I fully support efforts to increase accountability and the effectiveness of our state homelessness programs, similar measures are already in place,” Newsom wrote in a veto message.

He cited budget laws approved earlier this year to require regular reports on the state’s two largest homelessness grant programs: the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention program, or HHAP – a pot of roughly $1 billion doled out to local governments to spend as needed – and an encampment resolution program.

“These reports will be made publicly available by Cal ICH,” Newsom wrote. He said another bill he recently signed “addresses the same objectives as this bill in a more targeted and cost-effective manner.”

More than 181,000 people in California are homeless on any given night, according to the latest figures. The vast majority, nearly 80%, are unsheltered, sleeping in vehicles, parks and on the street.

Despite spending $24 billion on various homelessness programs over the past five years, the problem has continued to worsen in California. Homelessness increased by 6% this year from the year before, driven mostly by the state’s high cost of housing.

An audit released in April found the state did not collect enough data for several programs meant to serve the state’s homeless – including rental assistance and local government grants – to determine whether they were effective.

Hoover’s bill would have implemented recommendations from the audit to require more data collection and reporting. It passed both chambers of the legislature this year without a single vote against it.

In a statement to The Bee, Hoover said Newsom “rejected the recommendations of the State Auditor and vetoed legislation that received unanimous support in the Legislature.”

The Folsom Republican said Californians “deserve transparency and accountability in how their tax dollars are spent, especially on such a critical issue.”

“Our state has spent billions of taxpayer dollars in recent years only to see homelessness get worse. We will not solve this crisis and get people the help they need until we get serious about accountability,” he said.