City leaders have been baffled and taken aback by the governor’s recent actions
California Assemblymember Matt Haney had worked on legislation to fund sober homeless housing for two years. After laborious negotiations, numerous amendments and multiple committee meetings, the San Francisco representative’s bill won near-unanimous support from the state Legislature in September before landing on Gov.
Gavin Newsom’s desk for what he expected to be a perfunctory signature.Newsom shocked Haney and San Francisco officials this month by vetoing the bill, which would have permitted cities such as San Francisco to spend up to 10% of their state homelessness housing funds on “sober housing” facilities where residents could be required to remain drug-free. “The bill had no opposition when it reached his desk and it was supported unanimously,” Haney said. “This felt like something that would be signed.” The apparent disconnect between Haney and Newsom was reminiscent of that seen recently when local transit advocates and officials demanded Newsom follow up to finalize the details of a $750 million bailout loan for struggling Bay Area public transit agencies. State leaders proudly reached a budget deal in June that included a commitment to prevent agencies like BART and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency from falling off a fiscal cliff and implementing steep cuts to service, but weeks went by without any more details. In September, a broad coalition of transit advocates, labor leaders and elected officials led a rally in San Francisco to pressure Newsom to make good on the deal. He did — sort of — by reiterating his commitment to public transit agencies “with ongoing support tailored to their needs” and extending the original September deadline to finalize loan terms. “We’ll keep partnering with them now and into next year — aligning flexible financing tools to their timelines — so we can deliver a sustainable, rider-first transit system together,” Newsom said at the time. Transit advocates have warned that without the funding — for which they’re waiting, again — BART could be forced to cut two of its five lines, and SFMTA could have to cut service frequency in half. Lian Chang, one of the transit advocates who helped organize the September rally, noted that the four transit agencies that would receive funding under the loan carry 80% of transit riders in the Bay Area. Allowing public-transit agencies to implement severe service reductions is financially inefficient, Chang said. “It’s not even free money,” Chang said. “it’s a loan, so the damage of not providing it is so much greater than the cost of $750 million.” Newsom’s office maintained that it had never reneged on the deal, but state Sen. Scott Wiener, its architect, said in September that he “thought the loan was dead.” Asked by The Examiner about any disconnect between Newsom and local leaders, a spokesperson for the Governor’s Office did not address the transit issue and said only that the governor’s veto message on Haney’s bill “speaks for itself.” Ex // Top Stories Tunnel Tops to transform into art market Arts.Co.Lab’s all-ages event to feature more than 20 artists from around the Bay Area New nonprofit funds more street cleaning in challenged convention corridor The new privately funded San Francisco Downtown Development Corporation is paying for much more sidewalk power washing near Moscone Center Why California Dems’ Prop. 50 strategy matters in November and beyond Rally the base? Or connect with the disaffected? Everything is on the table Not only was Newsom’s veto message a surprise, but it was factually inaccurate, according to the bill’s supporters. It described Haney’s bill as permitting cities to spend up to 25% of their state homelessness funding on abstinence-based supportive housing. That would’ve been true when Haney introduced the bill, but in the final version that figure was reduced to 10%. The bill was the product of careful compromise on a sensitive topic, according to Haney. California has long embraced a “housing first” approach to ameliorating homelessness, supporting programs that prioritize placing people in housing regardless of whether or not they’re actively working to receive treatment for addiction, apply for new jobs or enroll in education. Haney’s bill marked a slight departure from that system by permitting cities to direct some of their state funding into programs that could require residents to stay sober in order to maintain their housing. The Governor’s Office also argued that Haney’s legislation was unnecessary, and that guidance previously released by the California Interagency Council on Homelessness this past January outlined how a city could legally fund sober housing without running afoul of the law. That was also baffling to the bill’s proponents. What guidance? If this was legal all along, why didn’t they know about it? What’s permitted under the state guidance and what would be allowed by Haney’s bill are not identical, Haney said. “We’ve met with the administration many times, we’ve worked with stakeholders and taken input, and everyone agreed at the end that this was absolutely needed,” Haney said. “It was needed legally to be able to provide this state funding, and it was absolutely, desperately needed to ensure there are adequate opportunities for people who want and need drug-free recovery housing.” Some have speculated that Newsom vetoed the bill effectively as a rebuttal to President Donald Trump , who issued an executive order earlier this year calling for an end to “support for ‘housing first’” policies that deprioritize accountability and fail to promote treatment, recovery, and self-sufficiency.” If it was a political play, it’s one that angered Democratic leaders in his own state — including Mayor Daniel Lurie, who found his inclination toward good-natured diplomacy tested. “We are standing up recovery and treatment beds to give those who are struggling a real chance to get better and provide safe, clean streets for residents and visitors,” Lurie said in a statement. “We are starting to see progress, but the Governor’s veto of this bill threatens to stop that progress in its tracks.”Haney noted that it’s a dizzying time to try to govern for both Newsom and legislators, and there’s “definitely a different feeling this year.” In some ways — such as with Proposition 50, the congressional redistricting bill that is the sole issue in a November special election — the Legislature and Newsom have had to work as closely together as ever before, he said. “The world is different for all of us, and I think that's requiring the governor and the legislature to have to respond a lot to what’s happening nationally,” Haney said.
Matt Haney Bay Area Transit Housing Recovery Sober Housing San Francisco Politics California Politics
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