State of the County: Newsom Robs Peter to Pay Paul

In a State of the County conference held last Friday evening at the Bacara, Santa Barbara County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato warned those assembled that a $6.8 billion bond measure pushed hard by Governor Gavin Newsom to provide housing for homeless people struggling with mental illness could have seriously adverse impacts on existing mental-health programs.

If the governor’s package were passed today, the county would see a 58 percent reduction in core treatment, crisis service, and outreach services now provided by the county’s Department of Behavioral Wellness. Translated into real dollars, that’s a drop of $28 million to $35 million for existing county services.

Early this March, Newsom unveiled a programmatic one-two punch to address the issue of housing for the state’s mentally ill homeless population. Part of that involves the $6.8 billion bond measure he unveiled to underwrite the cost of much-needed housing. The other part involves a redirection of funding that now comes from a one percent tax on millionaires that state voters approved in 2004. 

A recent study released by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated that redirection will take $720 million — in direct or matching funds — away from programs currently provided by county mental-health departments throughout the state. In Santa Barbara, this would trigger an immediate reduction of funding to Behavioral Wellness the tune of $5 million. Then there’d be another cut of $12 million to $13 million on existing services. That in turn would trigger a loss of matching funds that these revenues are used to leverage from other sources. 

Within the universe of mental health providers and advocates, the governor’s proposal has generated a firestorm of mixed emotions. Among existing providers, it’s regarded as a direct threat. Among others, it’s seen as a much-needed, belated shift in funding priorities.