In a dramatized Hayward presser, Gavin Newsom put L.A., San Francisco and eight other counties on notice: fix homeless housing or lose state cash to “CARE Champions” like Alameda that have already moved 70 units from blueprint to bulldozer.
The Moment: Newsom Draws a Bright Line Between Winners and Losers
Speaking inside the half-framed Bay Area Community Services – Regis Valley complex, Gavin Newsom didn’t mince words: “Don’t make any more excuses.” His backdrop—fresh lumber rising into 70 units of permanent supportive housing—was the visual proof he wanted the state to see.
While $291 million in fresh Proposition 1 and Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grants flow out this month, the governor simultaneously published two lists: ten “CARE Champions” that have cleared every bureaucratic hurdle to stand up CARE Act courts, and ten laggards that will be forced into a state-run boot camp before they see another dime.
Net Effect: Cash Follows Speed, Not Size
The ten counties moving fastest represent only 17 % of the state’s population yet will serve as the template for court-ordered treatment plus immediate keys to an apartment. If the big urban counties—Los Angeles, Orange, San Francisco, Santa Clara—continue to stall, Newsom warned he is “happy to redirect all of the state’s money” to the champions.
- CARE Champions: Alameda, Humboldt, Imperial, Marin, Merced, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Sutter, Tuolumne.
- Under-performers in state ICU: Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Monterey, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Yolo.
Why 1959 Still Haunts 2026
Newsom reached back to 1959 for a jaw-dropping stat: California once operated 37,000 beds for residents with chronic mental illness or addiction. Today, with twice the population, the inventory has collapsed to 5,500. “The original sin,” he said, “is not just the investment in behavioral health. It’s a lack of investment in housing, period.”
That 85 % erosion explains why encampments now line freeways from San Diego to Redding; the state literally liquidished the physical safety net that used to catch people before they hit the street.
Inside the CARE Court Engine
Judges can now order an individual into a tightly clocked care plan—psychiatric meds, drug treatment, and, crucially, a locked-in housing slot—without criminal charges. Judge Sandra Bean, running Alameda’s court since 2024, says the partnership among her bench, the public defender, behavioral health staff and nonprofit Bay Area Community Services has already moved a formerly homeless woman “into her own apartment, on meds and thriving.”
State law gives each county 18 months to launch; Alameda hit the mark in 14, triggering preference for new construction dollars. By contrast, Los Angeles—home to roughly one-third of the state’s unsheltered population—has opened only pilot sessions and won’t scale until late 2026, according to accountability.ca.gov.
What Happens in May
The governor underscored a hard budget truth: the May revise is his last chance to claw back unspent HHAP dollars. If under-performing counties cannot produce signed CARE court MOUs and shovel-ready housing sites, their allocations will be “re-profiled” to counties that can. Newsom framed it as a simple equation: “Supply and demand. It’s not complicated.”
Bottom Line for Taxpayers and Residents
- Expect faster shelter-to-apartment pipelines in the ten champion counties—and visible crane activity within six months.
- Big-city mayors now face a fiscal gun to the head: streamline zoning and court processes or watch state money flow to smaller, nimbler neighbors.
- Statewide homeless counts due in July will be the first public scoreboard; if numbers rise in lagging counties while falling in champions, political pressure will intensify ahead of the 2026 elections.
Keep watching onlytrustedinfo.com for the fastest breakdown of the July homeless data and which counties actually gained—or lost—millions in the next funding wave.
