Gov. Gavin Newsom stepped up to a lectern on a March day three years ago and proposed a new solution to one of the state’s most difficult problems: How to help the thousands of Californians sleeping on the streets while suffering from severe mental illness.
After all, he said, everything the state has done before has failed. One of the state’s prior attempts — a treatment referral program called Laura’s Law – helped just 218 people during the 2018-19 fiscal year, he said.
“That certainly is not demonstrable progress,” Newsom said. His new program would be different…