Gov. Newsom joins local officials in unveiling a new round of homeless funding

Gov. Gavin Newsom came to Skid Row Tuesday to announce new state funding that will bring $380 million to the Los Angeles region for homeless housing, shelter, rental assistance, outreach and prevention.

The fifth tranche of the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention program will distribute $827 million statewide and come with more stringent accountability and transparency measures than in the past, Newsom said.

The city of Los Angeles will receive $160 million and the county $94 million. The remainder will go to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and the separate homeless services agencies of Glendale, Long Beach and Pasadena.

Newsom said a key element of the new accountability is a requirement for cities and counties to present their plans as a region under a contract establishing “an expectation of roles and responsibility” among all the agencies.

He was joined by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, county supervisors Hilda Solis and Kathryn Barger, and Va Lecia Adams Kellum, chief executive of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

Bass said she, the supervisors and the homelessness authority have moved beyond the bickering and finger pointing that hampered regional efforts in the past to work on a unified front.

“This is an example of work that we have been doing for the last couple of years which is bringing every level of government together,” she said.

Newsom said the grant program, which committed $2.4 billion in its first four rounds, was formed in the last year of former Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration, when about $500 million was spent with “no accountability, no expectations.”

“Since then we have significantly increased the investments but we have also increased the accountability, transparency and the expectations,” Newsom said.

Though he did not go into detail, Newsom said additional accountability would be through “a framework of expectation and reporting that would no longer be at a quarterly or biannual basis but a monthly basis.”

The announcement drew muted criticism from Republican State Sen. Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks). He commended Los Angeles officials for making progress on getting people off the street and Newsom for promising accountability.

But, in light of a recent report by the State Auditor’s Office concluding that the state has failed to adequately monitor the outcomes of its vast spending on homelessness programs, Niello remained skeptical.

“He used the word accountable and accountability so many times that if I had a nickel for every time he used it, I would have enough to pay for the lunch I’m going to,” Niello said. “If past is prologue, those are just words.”

Homelessness spending should ultimately be directed at getting people to self-sufficiency, Niello said.

“Tell us how much you are spending and tell us what the actual results are with respect to self-sufficiency.”