Newsom Ignores LA County In New Homeless Initiative

SANTA MONICA—On April 8, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a press release announcing $145.5 million in funding through the Homeless, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) program to prevent and address California’s homelessness. The funding does not include Los Angeles County. The following areas have been identified to be the recipients of Newsom’s latest homeless initiative. -$1.4 million is allocated to Lake County and the Lake County Continuum of Care (LCCoC). -$3.5 million is allocated to be divided between the cities of Irvine, and the Santa Ana-Anaheim-Orange County Continuum of Care (CoC). -$20.4 million — City of Riverside and the Riverside County CoC. -$31.7 million — City of Sacramento, and the Sacramento CoC. -$49.9 million — City of San Jose and the San Jose-Santa Clara CoC. -Almost $4.1 million — Solano-Vallejo CoC. -Over $2.2 million — Yolo-Davis-Woodland County CoC. -$600,000 — Yuba County. Earlier this year, $419 million was allocated to be divided between the areas of Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco, indicates the California Governor’s website, with $159.3 million was awarded to “20 California regions.” A February 2026 report via the California Legislative Analyst’s Office 2025-2026 overview indicated that Governor Newsom spent $37 billion on homelessness since becoming Governor in 2019. The state spent an additional $900 million on homeless encampment removal and cleanup. California Homelessness continues to grow. According to the Los Angeles Almanac there is little difference in the demographics of homelessness between 2019 when Newsom took office and 2025 statistics. Los Angeles County listed 58,936 homeless/unhoused individuals in 2019 and 73,308 in 2025. Several cities included in the coverage area for Canyon News in the report are: -Beverly Hills in 2019 counted 19 homeless individuals and 17 in 2025. -Malibu had 154 in 2019 and 21 in the 2025 count. -Santa Monica had 1,002 in 2019 with 677 reported in 2025. -West Hollywood had 131 unhoused in 2019 and 79 in 2025. The COVID-19 pandemic may have skewed numbers due to mandatory shutdowns. On March 19, 2020, California was the first state to employ a state-wide stay at home mandate. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, California’s population has shown little growth in 25 years. A total of 150,000 left the state in 2019 and 220,000 in 2020. Reports indicate that close to 10 million people left California between 2010 and 2024. Key Wealth Migration Data from early 2026 indicates that 57,000 millionaires have left the state of California for other destinations related to Governor Newsom’s proposed Wealth Tax. This includes entire businesses such as Oracle, Chevron, Tesla, and SpaceX.   By Sharon