
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California voters have approved a measure that will impose strict requirements on counties to spend on housing and drug treatment programs to tackle the state's homelessness crisis, in a tissue-thin win for Gov. Gavin Newsom, who personally campaigned for the measure's passage.
Democrats outnumber Republicans by a staggering 2-to-1 in California, and the borderline vote — coming more than two weeks after election day — signaled unease with the state's homeless policies after Newsom's administration invested billions of dollars to get people off the street but no dramatic change has been seen in Los Angeles and other large cities.