More people in California could be detained against their will because of a mental illness under a new bill backed Wednesday by the mayors of some of the nation's largest cities, who say they are struggling to care for the bulk of the country's homeless population.
Federal data shows nearly one-third of the country's homeless population lives in California, crowding the densely populated coastal cities of the nation's most populous state. California lawmakers have given local governments billions of dollars in recent years to address this, but often with mixed results that recently prompted a public scolding from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
