California Lawmakers Want to Invest Billions in Housing—by Diverting Mental Health Funds – By Julia Metraux (Mother Jones) / Jan 26, 2024
Proposition 1 would “set the example” nationwide. Among the costs: more forced treatment.
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On March 5, Californians will vote on Proposition 1. The ballot measure, if passed, will allow the state to divert funds raised for non-coercive mental health care to housing and other behavioral health programs—including involuntary confinement.
Through a bond, the proposition would also raise some $6.4 billion (over 30 years) for behavioral health and housing. But almost as much—a further $140 million annually—would be taken directly from the state’s mental health budget, redirecting it from community mental health services to behavioral programs such as residential substance abuse treatment and centers for short-term involuntary psychiatric holds. Counties would also have to spend another third of their MHSA funds on housing and the costs of forced treatment.
Proposition 1 would enact and fund two bills that made their way through California’s legislature with bipartisan support. In amendments immediately before the final vote in September, legislators moved to strike language requiring any mental health facilities created with the funds to be voluntary and unlocked. After signing those bills, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the legislation would “prioritize getting people off the streets, out of tents and into treatment.” A recent estimate pegs the state’s homeless population at more than 180,000, a 12 percent increase from the year before. A major factor driving homelessness in California is the state’s lack of affordable housing.
