(Jan. 14, 2016) California legislators last week announced a funding proposal to the tune of $2 billion to build new, permanent housing for the state’s mentally ill homeless.
While housing the homeless is certainly a step in the right direction, some argue that lawmakers are simply addressing the symptoms and not the root cause of a larger issue: the nation’s broken mental health system (“California legislators propose spending $2 billion to build housing for homeless,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 4).
“This is a tipping-point moment for mental health, homelessness, and Proposition 63 in California,” said former Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) among others at a press conference on Los Angeles’ Skid Row.
“Thanks to the leadership of this Senate, we have a historic opportunity to help local communities forge systemic long-term solutions, making a real difference in the lives of thousands of forgotten Californians,” he said.
But Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich criticized the initiative for taking funding decisions out of local leaders’ control.
“Any directives by the state could undermine this expansion effort and delay progress being made in their own unique communities,” Antonovich said in a statement. Some of the $400 million in Proposition 63 money the county received this year goes towards housing, but it also funds a range of mental health services, including crisis intervention and transition programs for people coming out of locked psychiatric facilities.
We agree that securing housing for the homeless mentally ill should be a priority. But, in order to work towards a comprehensive solution, we need to go the extra mile in California.
Studies throughout the country overwhelmingly show assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) – when implemented – works to reduce homelessness among people with mental illness. Research on New York’s AOT law showed that among people receiving court-ordered treatment in the community, 74 percent fewer experienced homelessness.
Currently, fourteen California counties have implemented Laura’s Law, the state’s AOT program, but the law was originally set up so that it would need to be renewed every five years and is set to require renewal again in 2017.
Assemblywoman Marie Waldron (R- Oceanside) is sponsoring a bill, AB 59, which would extend the sunset date for Laura’s Law until January 1, 2022.
CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS today! Tell them that you support continuing Laura’s Law in California and urge them to vote in favor of AB 59.
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