California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to direct $750 million from the state’s upcoming budget to help homeless people get off the streets, his office announced Wednesday morning.
Also on Wednesday, Newsom signed an executive order directing state departments to identify state property that can be used for emergency shelters and designate 100 trailers in California’s fleet for temporary housing and health care services. The executive order also establishes a homelessness “strike team.”
“Homelessness is a national crisis, one that’s spreading across the West Coast and cities across the country,” Newsom said in a statement. “The state of California is treating it as a real emergency.”
A report released Tuesday from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a report underscored the depth of the homelessness problem in California, finding that more than a quarter of the nation’s homeless population resides in the state, totaling about 151,000 people.
The report noted that while homelessness declined in most states over the past year, it went in the opposite direction in California, where the homeless population jumped 16% in one year.
