Governor Gavin Newsom announced Monday that $920 million in funding will be allocated to cities and counties to address homelessness. However, Newsom emphasized that there are conditions attached and expects measurable results.
The funding includes up to $760 million for housing and mental health services. Another $118 million will be set aside to help communities clear and prevent homeless encampments.
“Without a stronger focus on encampments and unsheltered homelessness,” Newsom said, “I am not inclined to continue supporting funding for cities and counties.”
Newsom added that by not seeing “unprecedented results”, the state is continuing to “fund failure.”
As a part of his efforts to track the progress of California cities, Newsom launched a new website to allow the public to track local government progress with homeless, mental health and housing spending. It also provides a snapshot of whether cities and counties are in compliance with the state’s housing standards.
In the Inland Empire, Riverside County added nearly twice as many housing units as San Bernardino County over the past four years, according to the site’s available data. San Bernardino saw a 2.7% rise in unsheltered homelessness, while Riverside hasn’t released new data in this category since 2023. Meanwhile, San Bernardino has over three times as many people receiving mental health support
Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson, chairwoman of the state’s Big City Mayors coalition, says local leaders are ready to meet the challenge.
“The Governor wants accountability, we say bring it,” said Lock Dawson. “We want to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars to ensure that whatever measures we're taking to reduce homelessness are in fact, effective at achieving those ends.”
A quick snapshot of housing and homeless in the Inland Empire
- Riverside County’s housing plan is mostly compliant with state law, though the cities of Canyon Lake and Coachella have outdated plans. The county has added about 35,000 housing units since 2019, but homelessness has risen by 14% since 2023.
- San Bernardino County’s housing plan is also in compliance, but several cities—Colton, Hesperia, Montclair, Rialto, Upland and Grand Terrace—are not. The county has added roughly 19,000 housing units since 2019. There is 4,255 people impacted by homelessness, a 1.4% increase since 2023.
View your county's data at accountability.ca.gov.
