With just 22 months remaining in his governorship, Gavin Newsom knows that two interrelated promises he made to voters seven years ago — to erase or at least lessen the state’s chronic housing shortage and its very high rate of homelessness — will not happen before he departs.

Dan Walters

CalMatters

Opinion

The pledges were foolish campaign posturing. State government had — and still has — very little ability to build housing or ameliorate the economic and societal underpinnings of homelessness.

The Reality Behind California’s Housing Crisis

Not surprisingly, therefore, both crises have worsened during Newsom’s governorship. But rather than take his lumps for promising what he could not deliver, Newsom has tried to wriggle out of accountability.

For instance, when challenged by reporters about his pledge to build 3.5 million units of housing, Newsom replied lamely, “It was always a stretch goal.”

He and the Legislature did pass numerous bills aimed at removing political and procedural hurdles for housing, while pressuring local governments to meet lofty quotas for rezoning land.

The Cost of Solutions Proves Staggering

However the housing conundrum is much more complicated, involving economic factors, such as the high costs of construction, that are largely beyond the state’s ability to overcome. It can cost as much as $1 million in some communities to build one unit of housing for low- and moderate-income families.

The state has spent about $24 billion on homelessness during Newsom’s governorship, but the number of people without homes has continued to grow. As big as $24 billion appears, it probably would take four or five times as much to create enough shelters and other housing and provide the medical care and other services that would be needed to make a big dent in the problem.

Related Story: 7 Takeaways From a Deep Dive Into California’s Homeless Shelters

The Blame Game Intensifies

In recent months, Newsom has increasingly shunned responsibility for the situations, mostly by pointing the finger at local governments, saying many have failed to ease the way for more housing construction or to spend state homelessness appropriations effectively.

His blame-shifting efforts switched to higher gear this week in the form of a website that purports to grade housing and homelessness efforts county by county.

Newsom’s website essentially pats himself on the back for actions on both issues and declares “Now Californians deserve results from their local governments,” adding, “It’s time for accountability.”

“No one in our nation should be without a place to call home,” Newsom said in a statement. “As we continue to support our communities in addressing homelessness, we expect fast results, not excuses.”

It’s a laughably ironic statement, given Newsom’s penchant for making excuses.

Related Story: New Homelessness Data: How Does California Compare to the Rest of the Country?

Some local governments have dragged their feet in dealing with housing and homelessness. Affluent, Democrat-voting communities such as those Marin Country and the San Francisco Peninsula are particularly resistant to multi-family, low-income housing projects.

However Newsom’s administration has been less than efficient in managing state homelessness programs, as a scathing report from the state auditor last year pointed out.

Local officials resent Newsom’s efforts to pin responsibility for failure on them.

“Governor Newsom’s latest in a long series of websites is just spin without the substance to back it up,” Graham Knaus, CEO of the California State Association of Counties, said in a statement. “Counties aren’t the bottleneck to addressing housing and homelessness. The real barriers to progress are the state-mandated bureaucratic hurdles that slow local governments down, forcing them to navigate a maze to get resources on the ground.”

The mutual finger pointing is likely to continue for the next 22 months as Newsom attempts to end his governorship without lingering political baggage. However, were he to run for president in 2028, as national political media anticipate, video images of squalid encampments in California cities would be a potent tool for his rivals.

About the Author

Dan Walters is one of the most decorated and widely syndicated columnists in California history, authoring a column four times a week that offers his view and analysis of the state’s political, economic, social, and demographic trends.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more columns by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

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