Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced CARE Court in 2022 in part as a way to bring people with serious mental illnesses off of California’s streets. But data from the state and counties, as well as interviews with service providers, CARE Court participants and their family members, highlight the ways in which the program is struggling to help homeless Californians.
More than two years after CARE Court first launched, most people entering the program aren’t homeless, and those who are homeless aren’t always getting what they need most: housing.
Jennifer Farrell had high hopes when she filed a CARE Court petition in Alameda County on behalf of her brother, who struggles with schizophrenia and meth use. But despite the program’s efforts, he ended up back on the street, and then in the hospital.
- Farrell: “We’re coming up on a year (since he enrolled in CARE Court). And we are nowhere … we’re probably in the same place we were when I filed. And maybe even worse off.”
To assess how CARE Court helps homeless Californians, CalMatters requested information from California’s 25 largest counties, as well as all of the ones that first launched the program. Of the 2,362 CARE Court petitions filed in the 21 counties that provided data, fewer than a third were for people who were homeless.
When asked how many people were housed through CARE Court, even the most successful counties reported just a few dozen.
To read CalMatters’ investigation into how CARE Court has performed so far at helping homeless Californians by Marisa Kendall, click here.
To meet Californians that have experienced CARE Court first hand, click here. And to learn about how you can use CARE Court, click here.
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Other Stories You Should Know
Is home ownership overrated?
Buying a home has long been seen in America as a marker of adulthood and a surefire way to secure intergenerational wealth. But with California home prices being as high as they are, is home ownership the smartest financial move?
As CalMatters’ Ben Christopher explains, though it depends largely on every individual’s personal finances, the gap between the benefits of owning and renting in California isn’t as wide as it used to be.
The median price of a detached single-family home in California is over $852,000, with some regions reaching over $1 million. That translates to as much as $6,000 a month, which far exceeds the monthly rent for a typical apartment.
Many Californians are renting not out of choice but because they can’t afford a house. But certain conditions characteristic to the state — high housing insurance costs and strong tenant protections for renters, for example — lend evidence to the argument that renting may be a sounder financial choice than it was in years past.
- Daryl Fairweather, Redfin economist: “More people are starting to be interested in renting and saving at the same time, because they’ve been priced out of owning a home, but they still want to achieve their financial goals and they’re looking into those alternatives and getting more savvy about it.”
Minimum wage will rise in 2026
Starting Jan. 1, minimum-wage workers in California will see their hourly pay increase to $16.90 — an increase of 40 cents an hour. The pay bump is part of an annual minimum wage review as required by state law, writes CalMatters’ Cayla Mihalovich.
Some California workers will see a bit more than that, however. Cities and counties can set their own minimum wages, and West Hollywood will have the highest minimum wage of any California city at $20.25 starting in January. Health care workers who successfully pushed for legislation in 2023 to boost their pay are also on track to make $25 an hour by 2027.
In May labor organizers for Los Angeles hotel and airport employees secured an hourly city minimum wage increase to $30 by 2028, the year the city will host the Olympics. But the move continues to face strong opposition from large employers and businesses. L.A.’s city council president this month proposed delaying the wage increase until 2030.
And lastly: What’s next for Medi-Cal?
Millions of people are expected to lose Medicaid coverage due to federal cuts and new policies from President Donald Trump’s sweeping budget bill.
In the face of this potentiality, a group of health foundations has formed the Future of Medi-Cal Commission to protect health care for 14 million low-income Californians. Read more from CalMatters’ Ana B. Ibarra, who spoke with Dr. Mark Ghaly, a co-chairperson of the commission and former California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary.
California Voices
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: There are so many Democrats running for California governor in 2026 that it’s theoretically possible, although very slim, for a Republican to win the office.
Policymakers should focus on securing state-level funding to help launch more PACE programs, which provide medical and social services that enable older Californians to safely age in their own homes, writes Dr. Janice Grandi, a primary care physician working in geriatrics.
Other things worth your time:
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CA cities double down on license-plate readers as federal surveillance grows // KQED
New federal alert warns that 132 schools and colleges in CA produce ‘lower earnings’ // EdSource
SF judge orders Trump administration to rehire 675 workers it fired during shutdown // San Francisco Chronicle
She was approved for a green card after three decades in the US. Then ICE arrested her // Los Angeles Times
