In a State of the County convention held final Friday night on the Bacara, Santa Barbara County Govt Officer Mona Miyasato warned these assembled {that a} $6.8 billion bond measure pushed arduous by Governor Gavin Newsom to offer housing for homeless individuals fighting psychological sickness may have severely adversarial impacts on present mental-health packages.
If the governor’s bundle had been handed at present, the county would see a 58 % discount in core remedy, disaster service, and outreach companies now offered by the county’s Division of Behavioral Wellness. Translated into actual {dollars}, that’s a drop of $28 million to $35 million for present county companies.
Early this March, Newsom unveiled a programmatic one-two punch to handle the problem of housing for the state’s mentally in poor health homeless inhabitants. A part of that includes the $6.8 billion bond measure he unveiled to underwrite the price of much-needed housing. The opposite half includes a redirection of funding that now comes from a one % tax on millionaires that state voters accepted in 2004.
A latest examine launched by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Workplace estimated that redirection will take $720 million — in direct or matching funds — away from packages at the moment offered by county mental-health departments all through the state. In Santa Barbara, this may set off an instantaneous discount of funding to Behavioral Wellness the tune of $5 million. Then there’d be one other minimize of $12 million to $13 million on present companies. That in flip would set off a lack of matching funds that these revenues are used to leverage from different sources.
Throughout the universe of psychological well being suppliers and advocates, the governor’s proposal has generated a firestorm of blended feelings. Amongst present suppliers, it’s considered a direct menace. Amongst others, it’s seen as a much-needed, belated shift in funding priorities.
