Housing

A person stands next to tents on a sidewalk in San Francisco on April 21, 2020. Photo by Jeff Chiu, AP Photo

Mental Health

‘We are horrified’: Late changes to Newsom’s $6 billion mental health bond surprise advocates

California voters likely will see a mental health ballot measure on the March 2024 election. One would issue a $6 billion bond to create housing for people with mental illnesses.

By

Kristen Hwang

• September 14, 2023

Homelessness

To sweep homeless camps, California cities say they offer shelter. What that really means is up for debate

Police can’t force homeless people from encampments unless the city in question has “adequate shelter” to offer the people getting forced off the street, according to courts. Now everyone involved wants to know what “adequate shelter” is.

By

Jeanne Kuang

• September 12, 2023

Stacey Berardino, assistant deputy director over the forensics and justice involved division of mental health, speaks to community members about CARE Court, a new program that will be implemented in October of 2023, at the St. Irenaeus Catholic Church in Cypress on Aug. 17, 2023. Photo by Lauren Justice for CalMatters

Housing

Families have high hopes for Gavin Newsom’s CARE Courts. Providers want to lower expectations

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s big new experiment to push people with mental illness off the streets and into treatment starts this fall. Counties responsible for the rollout say it may end up being more modest than advertised.

By

Jeanne Kuang

• August 28, 2023

Students move into the University of California, Berkeley dorms in Berkeley on Aug. 16, 2023. Photo by Semantha Norris, CalMatters

Housing

As one more housing project stalls on noise concerns, another head sprouts from ‘CEQA Hydra’

Two different state courts have ruled recently that the human noise created by future tenants in housing projects are a form of pollution that cities must address. Lawmakers and the governor are working to reverse that novel interpretation of environmental law.

By

Mikhail Zinshteyn

and

Ben Christopher

• August 17, 2023

Housing

Making borrowing easier: Amendment to state constitution could unlock billions of dollars for California housing

Many local governments have more than half their voters approve a bond measure… but fewer than the two-thirds supermajority required. An effort to change that would drastically alter the ability of local governments to fund housing and infrastructure projects.

By

Ben Christopher

• August 9, 2023

Illustration by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters; iStock

Housing

California could borrow a record-breaking $35 billion to tackle the housing crisis. Will voters go along?

Three of the biggest housing bonds in state history are bound for the 2024 ballot. But with no shortage of crises facing the state, California can only borrow so much and voters may succumb to “bond fatigue.”

By

Ben Christopher

• August 3, 2023

Drug test cups at the Opiate Treatment Outpatient Program at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center on July 20, 2023. OTOP uses innovative methods like reward incentives to combat substance abuse and addiction. Photo by Mark Leong for CalMatters

Health

How California is fighting meth with gift cards

California’s experimental new program targets methamphetamine addiction by rewarding patients with gift cards for negative drug tests.

By

Marisa Kendall

• July 24, 2023

A home with a real estate sign in Tower District in central Fresno on June 28, 2022. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

Housing

Some of California’s “cheapest” cities have seen the biggest rent hikes

The lack of enough places for everyone to live has sent coastal rent prices inland, removing large swaths of previously cheaper rental units.

By

Ben Christopher

• July 21, 2023

A homeless encampment in Los Angeles on June 20, 2023. Photo by Julie A Hotz for CalMatters

Homelessness

L.A.’s new homeless solution clears camps but struggles to house people

Los Angeles’ new homelessness solution is meant to quickly get people out of encampments and into housing – as the city grapples with the state’s largest population of unhoused residents. But the program is struggling to house people and connect them with social services.

By

Marisa Kendall

• July 13, 2023

Dr. Kyle Patton checks the heartbeat of one of his patients, William, while in a Raley’s grocery store parking lot in northwest Redding on Sept. 19, 2022. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

Health

‘Go to the people’: Street medicine teams bring health care to the unhoused

California’s more than 170,000 unhoused people often lack the means and mobility to locate and visit a doctor who will accept them. At least 25 street medicine teams throughout the state are trying to fill that gap by providing health care to unhoused individuals in need.

By

Larry Valenzuela

• July 11, 2023