OPINION: A yes on Prop 2 may alleviate homelessness

Improving access to housing is key to ameliorating California’s housing and homelessness crisis.

With about a third of homeless people suffering from mental illness, Proposition 2, also known as the No Place Like Home Act, is a crucial step in the right direction. Come Election Day, vote yes on this ballot measure.

Prop 2 will authorize $2 billion in bonds from the Mental Health Services Act to pay for the construction of supportive housing for homeless people suffering from severe mental illness.

Voters approved The Mental Health Services Act in 2004 under Prop 63. The Act expanded mental health programs by increasing the income tax paid by people whose incomes exceeded $1 million by 1 percent.

Although the act was designed to expand mental health programs, it never explicitly mentioned housing. Therefore, when legislation passed pursuant to the No Place Like Home Act of 2016 authorizing use of revenue from the the Mental Health Services Act to issue bonds for supportive housing, no bonds were issued due to questions about the scope of Prop 63. The housing program has been stuck in the courts since.

Prop 2 is on the California ballot this year to cut through this red tape. Voting yes on the proposition will approve the No Place Like Home Act of 2016 and approve the allocation of $2 billion in revenue bonds to support the program, providing thousands of mentally ill homeless people with housing and treatment.

According to CNBC, there are over 134,000 homeless people in California, and about a third of them have untreated mental health issues. There are nearly 53,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County alone and providing housing for mentally ill homeless people is imperative during the current housing crisis.

Treatment for mental health and addiction is nearly impossible when people have to return to the trauma of homelessness. According to Jeff Kositsky, who oversees San Francisco’s homelessness efforts, people with mental health conditions cannot get better living on the streets.

Decades of research show that the combination of stable housing and mental health services promotes health and stability. Programs that provide stable housing are far more effective, and Prop 2 would ensure California cities and counties will be able to implement them.

Permanent supportive housing guarantees access not only to mental health and substance abuse services, but also to medical care, case managers, job training, education and more. If passed, Prop 2 would lead to the construction of 20,000 of these permanent supportive housing units under the No Place Like Home program, providing coordinated care to those who need it.

While some think Prop 2 will steal money from treatment programs, this is highly unlikely as the cost is only a small part of the Mental Health Services Act and will decrease with time. The bonds will temporarily use about 6 percent of the revenue created by the act. This small cost would not strip the programs created by the Mental Health Services Act, but would effectively use the funding by increasing the success of treatment.

Prop 2’s housing initiative coincides with the goal of the Mental Health Services Act that voters approved 14 years ago: to fund mental health services.

According to Darrell Steinberg, the author of the Mental Health Services Act, “Mental illness does not have to be a life sentence of despair and dysfunction. Supportive housing provides the stability people need as they recover from untreated serious mental illness. It helps them stay off the street and live with dignity.”

On Tuesday, be sure to vote yes to Prop 2. California cannot postpone permanent supportive housing for mentally ill homeless people any longer. Prop 2 is paramount to helping California’s mentally ill homeless population receive housing and treatment, and it needs voters’ support to be put into action.