Did using hotel rooms put a dent in CA homelessness?

Despite California spending $24 billion on housing and homelessness over the past five years, the number of unhoused people continues to rise and questions persist whether the billions spent have made a meaningful difference.

But in a bit of rare good news, the independent research firm Abt Associates released a report Monday night that found a program to stop COVID from spreading among homeless people was largely a success — at least according to the available data.

As CalMatters homelessness reporter Marisa Kendall explains, Project Roomkey launched in March 2020 and moved about 62,000 unhoused Californians into hotel rooms. Some also received health care.

Roomkey succeeded at preventing homeless people from dying of COVID, but researchers also found that as of January, 22% of people leaving the program landed in permanent housing, and 11% went to temporary housing. According to state data obtained by CalMatters, more than 14,000 Californians moved from Roomkey into a permanent home.

• Nichole Fiore, Abt Associates principal associate and report co-author: “22% is actually pretty good for an exit into permanent housing.”

But the program lacked a lot of data, and of the little information researchers were able to gather, they found that people who left the program had at least a 40% chance of returning to homelessness.

Funding was another problem. In October, the Federal Emergency Management Agency informed the state that it would not pay for Roomkey hotel stays that were longer than 20 days between June 11, 2021 and May 11, 2023, unexpectedly leaving California and local governments collectively on the hook for more than $300 million.

On Monday, a state Assembly budget subcommittee raised more questions about the effectiveness of state spending on homeless programs. Democrats, as well as Republicans, grilled Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration officials, complaining about the lack of data and the cost of programs. 

Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, an Encino Democrat and chairperson of the subcommittee, said the public is “losing confidence” in the government’s ability to solve the homelessness crisis.

• Gabriel: “We have people in our community who have voted twice to tax themselves — a city measure and a county measure — they have literally said to elected officials, ‘Take more of my money and please go do something about this terrible problem I see on the streets.’ … But we are not seeing the progress that people expect.”

Learn more about the Project Roomkey report in Marisa’s story.

Growing up in an Arizona copper mining community, Sen. Anna Caballero didn’t think she’d get into politics. But while attending school in San Diego, she became inspired by the farm workers movement, which eventually led to her long career in politics — first as a Salinas city council member for 15 years, then as the city’s mayor and afterwards working for Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration. 

During her time in the Legislature (in the Assembly since 2016 and the Senate since 2018), Caballero says she’s been active in solving problems on wildfire, climate change and employment.

But in her new role as Senate Appropriations Committee chairperson, she’ll have to get used to saying “no” — a lot. 

That’s especially the case when the state, facing a multibillion-dollar deficit, doesn’t have much money for all the new programs that her colleagues want. The committee met Monday, but that gatekeeper role will be highlighted late next week in the first round of “suspense file” hearings, when dozens of spending bills get shelved in short order. 

The interview has been shortened for clarity and length.

Why do you believe Sen. Mike McGuire appointed you as chairperson?

I’m a very practical legislator, focused on the issues that are most critical, the meat-and-potato issues, if you will. I think he saw my practical approach and realized he was going to need someone in appropriations that could look at the issues and make decisions that are going to benefit the entire state.

Amid the looming budget shortfall, how do you want to steer the committee?

In many ways, my job is a little bit easier, because if there’s no money, there’s just no money. So bills that cost a lot of money are going to have a real tough time getting through the committee. 

But it’s also a lot harder. You have to prioritize things in a way that requires everyone to think about if we’re going to do something new, what are we going to do that’s all that we cut out, or that we don’t do? It’s going to be a tough appropriations committee year. 

Are there specific programs or needs that you believe need more state spending?

I talked to teens all the time, and mental health is a big issue for them. We just don’t have enough mental health resources in the high schools or in the junior highs. We need more. We know that education is critically important, and when you have a budget deficit, education gets less money too.

Are there any plans to make the suspense file process more transparent to the public? Would you want to do anything differently?

There are more lobbyists than you can count, which means there are more interests out in the state than you would ever think. Everybody thinks if they can come and see you right before a decision is made, they can change your mind. So there has to be an end to the lobbying, and that includes lobbying from the elected officials as well. 

It looks like it’s very opaque, but in reality everybody has an opportunity to come in and have a conversation with me.

Meet more key lawmakers: Read my interviews with new Senate labor committee chairperson Lola Smallwood-Cuevas of Los Angeles and Assembly committee chairpersons: Democrats Alex Lee of Milpitas, who leads human services; Kevin McCarty of Sacramento, who heads public safety; and Chris Ward of San Diego, who leads the housing committee.

From CalMatters deputy editor Adam Ashton: 

California state agencies can compel employees to come to the office even if their union-negotiated contracts promise them the right to work from home. That’s the gist of a labor arbitrator’s decision in a dispute between the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the union that represents state attorneys. 

The decision came down last week as the Newsom administration calls tens of thousands of California state workers back to the office, ending the work-from-home policies the state adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Newsom signaled that shift when he released a January budget proposal that sought to save $51 million by terminating telework stipends. Then, his administration followed up with an April order directing state employees to work in the office two days a week beginning next month. 

The new arbitration focused on a March 2022 directive at CalPERS for its employees to work in the office three days a week. The attorneys union, known by the acronym CASE, challenged the order. Most of the attorneys preferred working from home and maintained that they kept up their productivity outside of the office. But CalPERS saw a sudden and unusual spike in turnover after the three-days-a-week policy took effect, according to the arbitration decision. 

Arbitrator Katherine Thomson rejected the union’s grievance, finding that CalPERS executives had legitimate operational reasons to require attorneys to work in the office.

CASE President Timothy O’Connor said that the union has several other grievances and that this decision does not mean arbitrators in other cases will rule the same way. Other unions also are preparing to challenge the return-to-office order, including the largest one, SEIU Local 1000. 

Read more in the story.

For several weeks, protests have rocked colleges across California, including dozens of arrests early Monday at UC San Diego. One concern for protesters, reporters and others: How to keep their smartphones away from prying eyes. Here are some tips from our soon-to-be colleagues at The Markup.