CA homeless shelter investigation inspires new legislation

From CalMatters investigative reporter Lauren Hepler: 

A new state bill would add more oversight to California homeless shelters after a CalMatters investigation exposed that many taxpayer-funded facilities are plagued by violence, mismanagement and low re-housing rates.

Assembly Bill 750 would build on an existing state law that was supposed to add basic checks on homeless shelter safety and sanitation. 

As it stands, cities and counties are supposed to inspect shelters and report to the state after they receive complaints. But our reporting revealed that just nine of California’s more than 500 cities and counties had filed any reports as of mid-last year.

The new measure would add “teeth” to the law, author and Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva said, by requiring annual shelter inspections, new complaint processes and harsher financial penalties for communities that fail to file mandatory reports. Quirk-Silva, a Democrat who represents parts of Orange and Los Angeles counties, credited CalMatters’ reporting as inspiration. 

• Quirk-Silva: “It was really some of your work that brought this issue of non-reporting to us. The numbers definitely showed that we had very little compliance.”

Advocates stress that the proposal won’t tackle some serious problems at shelters. There’s still a severe lack of affordable housing for shelter residents to move onto, and the bill focuses on building and safety codes. That could limit recourse for other issues raised in shelter records, including fraud allegations, sex crimes and facilities that kick out more people than they house.

• Eve Garrow, a senior policy analyst and advocate for the ACLU of Southern California: “This bill definitely does not at all address these other forms of abuse and malfeasance and sometimes crime. We need other forms of accountability. It really is still the Wild West out there.”

The state agency that monitors shelter reports, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, said it does not comment on proposed legislation. The Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development is expected to hear the bill soon, and Quirk-Silva said more analysis is forthcoming on potential costs to implement the measure.

A toxic fumigant linked to increased health risks is being used by four fumigation facilities in the city of Compton and the Los Angeles neighborhood of San Pedro, South Coast Air Quality Management District officials reported Thursday.

As CalMatters’ Alejandra Reyes-Velarde explains, methyl bromide is used by companies to kill harmful pests on imported fruits and vegetables. California health officials have classified the chemical as a reproductive toxicant, which can harm developing babies in the womb. High levels of short-term exposure can cause headaches and nausea, while exposure over a year or more can lead to neurological effects, such as learning and memory difficulties.

For months, some residents in Long Beach, another city in L.A. County, have known about methyl bromide: In January they learned that two other facilities located near an elementary school were potentially emitting dangerous levels of the chemical — five years after air quality officials first detected it.

• Theral Golden, a longtime Long Beach resident and community advocate: “How do you know what’s causing your illness? We should be in crisis mode, and everybody wants to act like everything is okay.”

Local air quality regulators have not analyzed the health risks of methyl bromide in nearby communities, and officials say they do not have plans to monitor the air near the San Pedro and Compton facilities.

Read more here.

During his first year in office, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that called for the creation of an education data system to track student progress. But roughly a year after the public was expected to have access to some of the data, the project remains behind schedule, writes CalMatters’ Adam Echelman.

The Cradle-to-Career Data System is a multi-year, $24 million project that collects data from California preschools, K-12 districts, colleges and job training programs. The data would be used by:

• Parents to see college and employment results of local elementary school districts; 
• Schools and college counselors to provide more specific advice to students;
• State programs to target what populations or districts need more help. 

The team behind the project initially said that some of its data would be accessible by spring 2024, which then got pushed to fall 2024. Now a spokesperson for the data project said data will be publicly available “this spring,” though no date was specified.

• Alex Barrios, president of the Educational Results Partnership, an education data nonprofit: “This was a signature initiative by the governor. You’d think taxpayers would be asking: ‘Where is this thing?’”

Read more to know the reasons behind the delay.

Last month CalMatters’ Ben Christopher reported the saga of Adam Hardesty, the Carlsbad condo-owner who decided to turn his garage into a pint-sized apartment over the objections of his Homeowners Association.

Hardesty claimed that state law, which promotes the development of accessory dwelling units as a bottom-up solution to California’s housing shortage, is on his side. The HOA disagreed, warning Hardesty that he ran the risk of “legal consequences and unnecessary expense.”

Those legal consequences have arrived. On Wednesday Hardesty received notice that the HOA is suing him for breach of contract.

We’ll keep you posted as the legal battle continues.