Frustrated by the slow adoption of one of his signature efforts to get Californians with severe mental illness off the streets, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday threatened to take funding from counties he said aren\u2019t doing enough.<\/p>\n
Newsom called out 10 counties that he said are underperforming when it comes to CARE Court<\/a> \u2013 a program he launched in 2023 that uses the courts to get people into mental health treatment. Counties that \u201chaven\u2019t gotten it done\u201d in his view are: Los Angeles, Orange, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Bernardino, Kern, Riverside, Yolo, Monterey and Fresno.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy to redirect every damn penny in these programs to the counties that are getting things done, period, full stop,\u201d Newsom said during a news conference. \u201cUnless they stop doing what they\u2019ve done. Don\u2019t make any more excuses.\u201d<\/p>\n Orange County was quick to dispute Newsom\u2019s assertion that it was lagging on CARE Court. \u201cOrange County is utilizing the CARE intervention fully,\u201d the OC Health Care Agency, which leads mental health treatment for the county, said in an email to CalMatters.<\/p>\n CARE Court rolled out in eight counties at the end of 2023, and was adopted across the entire state by December 2024. The idea was to help some of the most vulnerable Californians \u2013 people who are in the grip of psychosis, languishing on sidewalks and unable to take care of themselves because all other treatment programs have failed them.<\/p>\n But a CalMatters investigation found CARE Court has served far fewer<\/a> Californians than initially anticipated, and many families who had counted on the program to help loved ones with a severe mental illness have been disappointed<\/a>. The program also has faced challenges in moving people off the streets<\/a> and into housing, CalMatters found.<\/p>\n Through January, the state has received 3,817 petitions for care on behalf of someone with mental illness. The petitions can come from a person\u2019s family, a first responder or a behavioral health provider. Judges have approved just 893 treatment agreements, Kim Johnson, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, said during the news conference. <\/p>\n Judges have ordered 32 people into CARE plans, which can happen if a participant won\u2019t agree to or doesn\u2019t follow a voluntary treatment agreement.<\/p>\n Newsom\u2019s administration initially estimated between 7,000 and 12,000 Californians would qualify for CARE Court. <\/p>\n More than 4,000 people were diverted away from the CARE program and got services in another way, Johnson said. <\/p>\n The governor also highlighted counties he said are doing a good job using CARE Court to connect people with treatment: Alameda, Humboldt, Santa Barbara, Tuolumne, Marin, Napa, Merced, Sutter, San Mateo and Imperial. He spoke from inside an under-construction wing of Regis Village in Alameda, a mental health campus that has, among other services, 44 beds prioritized for people in CARE Court.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a number of counties that get it and are getting things done, proving it can be done when you have leadership that cares enough to get it done,\u201d Newsom said. <\/p>\n The administration calculated the number of CARE Court petitions received per capita to determine success, dubbing the 10 counties with the highest number as \u201cCARE champions,\u201d and relegating the 10 with the lowest to the \u201cCARE ICU.\u201d <\/p>\n