Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared victory on Proposition 1, a multibillion-dollar bond measure that targets services for Californians grappling with homelessness and behavioral health conditions.
The Secretary of the State may not formally certify the vote — which passed by a margin of fewer than 29,000 votes, or less than one-half of 1% of votes cast — until April 12.
In Alameda County, support for Proposition 1 was proportionally much stronger than the statewide average, according to the county’s website. Of 305,238 votes counted as of Thursday, 188,807, or 61.86%, were in favor within the county.
Proponents of the measure, including healthcare provider and first responder unions as well as veterans groups, say the new funding and rules of Proposition 1 will provide thousands of housing units and treatment beds for the state’s neediest residents. Critics, among them civil liberties and disabilities advocates, say the changes will lead to reductions in existing services and an increase in involuntary commitments of patients who could be better treated in other ways.
The bill has two main prongs. One will bond $6.38 billion for new housing and treatment facilities, with the state projecting it to provide 6,800 new treatment beds for Californians with behavioral health problems and 4,350 new housing units. The state expects to pay down that bond issue with 30 annual $310 million payments, or $9.3 billion over the next three decades.
The second prong reconfigures how funds from the Mental Health Services Act, a 20-year-old tax on households earning more than $1 million annually, are distributed. County and local mental health agencies will now only receive 90% of those funds, down from 95% — state programs keep the balance — and must now devote 30% of the funding to housing interventions.
That would nearly triple the amount of MHSA funds Alameda County currently devotes to housing, from about $15 million to just over $43 million. Berkeley, too, would be subject to the new requirements since it receives roughly $9 million annually in MHSA funds. Details on those reallocations were not immediately available.
The Associated Press called the vote Wednesday.
Newsom said at a press conference Thursday that the proposition will “fundamentally reform” and “modernize” behavioral health and housing services in the state. “People clearly recognize the urgency of the crisis at hand.”
