Californians to vote on $6.4 billion ballot measure to address behavioral challenges in homeless veterans

Night after night, men and women who have fought for their country live on the streets in California.

Some are coping with mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder. Others are fighting inner demons and addiction. And then, there are those people who have fallen on hard times, pushed out of their homes because rising rents are still too out of reach.

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For decades, California, which is home to a third of the nation’s unhoused veterans, has poured billions of taxpayer money into programs that haven’t done much to help the growing problem.

Homeless veterans still wearing their dog tags are fighting for scraps, a warm meal, and a roof over their heads. They need help, physical and mental, and California, their adopted home state, needs a wake-up call.

After years of the government throwing billions of dollars at the crisis, the homeless veteran problem in the state has, at best, plateaued.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) wants that to change.

The Democratic governor, who has increased his national and international profile in recent months as rumors swirl about a White House bid, is seeking to set aside funding specifically for veterans with serious behavioral health conditions.

“These reforms, and this new investment in behavioral health housing, will help California make good on promises made decades ago,” he said. “We see the signs of our broken system every day — too many Californians suffering from mental health needs or substance use disorders and unable to get the support or care they need. This will prioritize getting people off the streets, out of tents, and into treatment.”

The $6.4 billion mental health bond is slated to help veterans with serious behavioral health conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, substance abuse, and interpersonal violence. 

The money would go to the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development, which would work on finding “housing for veterans experiencing behavioral health changes,” said California Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin, a Democrat representing the 42nd District.

“Getting veterans experiencing homelessness off the streets has long been a priority for Californians, but getting some of our most vulnerable veterans into needed treatment for behavioral health challenges will be transformative,” she said. “One of the only groups that has seen a recent significant decline in percent of homelessness are veterans, thanks primarily to the very successful Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention program. By placing a renewed focus on existing programs like Homekey and the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure program … [it] will provide housing and treatment services to veterans that focus on serious mental illness and substance use disorders. Funding and expanding this program is the right thing to do.”

(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

The investment would be the single largest expansion of California’s behavioral health treatment and residential settings in the state’s history, but Newsom still needs the people to sign off on it. They will get the opportunity to do so in March when it will be on the primary ballots. 

The approach is a departure from the state’s earlier two initiatives to help veterans, which focused mostly on finding housing. One of the biggest efforts to address homeless veterans came in the late 1990s when California built seven new veterans’ housing complexes over 17 years. The state has the highest housing costs in the nation, and many veterans have been unable to afford rentals. But the homes, built to house 2,400 people, weren’t a hit. One 300-unit home in Barstow was so unpopular and underutilized that Newsom tried to shut it down in 2020 as talk of a pandemic recession grew, but lawmakers thwarted his efforts. 

“I am elated that the Legislature has rejected the Governor’s proposal to close the Barstow Veterans Home,” Republican Assemblyman Jay Obernolte said. “Keeping this vital facility open is a huge victory for our veterans, their families, and our community.”

Despite the lawmaker’s delight, the Department of Veterans Affairs said that because of Barstow’s relative remoteness, it struggled to generate demand and that it has had difficulty recruiting employees. “The Barstow home is simply not located in an area that allows it to best serve the veteran community,” the report read.

Another attempt to turn the tide came from ballot measures in 2014 and 2018 that voters approved. It set aside $4.6 billion to build housing for former military service members in need. The money led to the creation of the Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention program, which supported the construction of about 3,250 housing units for veterans to date, CalMatters reported. While veteran advocates have credited the housing programs for reducing homelessness among military members in the state, it isn’t necessarily an apples-to-apples indicator that things are getting better overall.

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To be sure, in California, veteran homelessness has decreased by more than 30% in a little more than a decade. While that’s good news, it should be noted that most of the gains came during former President Barack Obama’s administration, when the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs got aggressive with finding homes for unhoused veterans. The troubling part is that since then, California’s statistics have stayed relatively the same despite the state spending billions trying to get the numbers down.

It’s yet to be seen if this new plan to help homeless veterans with behavioral problems will take off or crash like the state’s earlier attempts. The first step is getting Californians on board in March.