Newsom Accused of Dodging Accountability for Wasteful Homeless Spending after Veto

California Republicans are accusing governor Gavin Newsom of dodging accountability and “doubling down on his failed response to homelessness” after he vetoed a bill that would have required the state to more closely monitor its homelessness spending.

Newsom on Wednesday vetoed Assembly Bill 2093, from assemblyman Josh Hoover, a Folsom Republican. The bill, which passed both chambers of the legislature and all its committee stops without opposition, would have required agencies and departments that administers a state homelessness program to report its cost and outcome data annually.

Hoover authored the bill after a state audit in April found that California failed to track $24 billion allocated to dozens of anti-homelessness programs over five years or to measure the programs’ outcomes. Despite the massive spending, California’s homeless population grew over the five-year period by 20 percent, from 151,278 in 2019 to 181,399 in 2023.

Hoover has said state agencies have shown no urgency to solve the homelessness crisis. He pitched his bill as a “major step forward for transparency and accountability.”

But Newsom vetoed the legislation, claiming that the problem has already been solved by a budget bill passed in July and another Democratic bill. “While I fully support efforts to increase accountability and the effectiveness of our state homelessness programs, similar measures are already in place,” Newsom wrote in his veto message.

Newsom noted that AB 166, a committee bill passed as part of the budget, requires additional reporting from the state’s two largest homelessness programs. But Hoover told ABC10 in Sacramento more programs need additional monitoring.

“We have over 15 government-funded programs in the state of California that are spending these billions of dollars,” Hoover told the news outlet.

Newsom also pointed to AB 799, by Democratic assemblywoman Luz Rivas, which he signed. He wrote that bill “addresses the same objectives” in a “more targeted and cost-effective manner.” Hoover told ABC10 that he supported that bill, but “we need to do more.”

“Governor Newsom is doubling down on his failed response to homelessness,” Hoover wrote on X. “Our state has spent billions of taxpayer dollars in recent years only to see the homeless population increase statewide. We will not solve this crisis until we get serious about accountability.”

Other California Republicans have also criticized Newsom’s vetos.

“Newsom has vetoed a bill to hold him accountable for homelessness spending,” Republican Representative Kevin Kiley wrote on X.

Assemblyman Joe Patterson, a Republican from Rocklin, said on X that Newsom had also vetoed a bill of his aimed at increasing transparency for a homelessness program. “Why doesn’t Newsom want more accountability in homeless spending?” he asked.

“I had a similar bill killed,” Republican state senator Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita wrote on X. “Over the last 5 years, Californians have spent $24B on homelessness. It keeps getting worse. There must be more outcome data, transparency, and accountability to understand what’s working and what’s not. Otherwise, it’ll be more of the same.”