SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is stirring things up by blaming local leaders for one of the state's most prominent problems - homelessness. A hundred and eighty-seven thousand Californians experience homelessness, according to a federal count. And as Laura Fitzgerald of CapRadio in Sacramento reports, this month's debate over who might be to blame comes with a price tag.
LAURA FITZGERALD, BYLINE: Governor Gavin Newsom has been noticeably frustrated over homelessness recently. He got people's attention with a message for city and county officials at a press conference a couple weeks ago.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
GAVIN NEWSOM: Time to do your job. People are dying on their watch - dying on their watch. How do people get reelected? Look at these encampments. They're a disgrace. They've been there years and years and years and years. I've heard that same rhetoric for years.
FITZGERALD: Since 2019, the state's provided grants for local governments to get people off the streets. But Newsom's recent budget proposal wouldn't renew these grants. The governor says he wants cities and counties to meet benchmarks for passing ordinances and increasing shelter capacity.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NEWSOM: I'm not interested. I'm just not - as a taxpayer, not just governor, I'm not interested in funding failure anymore. I'm not.
FITZGERALD: Local leaders, including fellow Democrats, say finger-pointing doesn't help and that withholding funds will only make the crisis worse.
Graham Knaus is CEO of the California State Association of Counties.
GRAHAM KNAUS: We certainly are not going to make progress if money is being clawed back from the only entities that are doing the primary work on the ground locally, and that's local government.
FITZGERALD: Some of the state's largest cities rely on state grants to increase beds in local shelters. Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty, a Democrat, says these grants account for around half of his city's homelessness budget.
KEVIN MCCARTY: One thing's clear - if you take that money away, there'll be more people on our streets.
FITZGERALD: This funding fight between Newsom and local officials comes as the state faces a budget deficit and the legislature faces tough choices before a deadline to pass a budget in mid-June. But some see an underlying political strategy at work here, as Newsom confronts a homelessness issue that's damaged the state's reputation.
MIKE MADRID: It's a very vulnerable weakness that the governor has, as he positions himself nationally.
FITZGERALD: Mike Madrid is a Republican political consultant in Sacramento. He says California's homelessness crisis is one of Newsom's biggest political liabilities, especially if he decides to run for president in 2028.
MADRID: Yeah. But I think as the governor is realizing that, outside of the state, he's going to have to either come up with a solution quick or he's going to have to fix the blame. If you can't fix the problem, fix the blame.
FITZGERALD: For unhoused people like Courtney Harris (ph), who we met in an encampment, things are already tough enough.
COURTNEY HARRIS: We need water supply. If we're going to be out here, we need, like, soap, supplies 'cause people are getting germs and getting sick out here.
FITZGERALD: Those kinds of things could be at stake as the political fight continues.
For NPR News, I'm Laura Fitzgerald in Sacramento. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
