Governor Newsom launches mental health and homelessness help plan

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KION -TV)-- CARE court is Governor Gavin Newsom's latest unveiled solution to help treat severely impaired and untreated Californians and hold patients accountable for their treatment plans.

CARE court is for helping give access and help family members, first responders, intervention teams and mental health service providers, among others, to refer people suffering from a list of ailments.

“CARE Court is about meeting people where they are and acting with compassion to support the thousands of Californians living on our streets with severe mental health and substance use disorders. We are taking action to break the pattern that leaves people without hope and cycling repeatedly through homelessness and incarceration. This is a new approach to stabilize people with the hardest-to-treat behavioral health conditions.”

Governor Gavin Newsom

CARE court also provides court-ordered specific interventions and services, stabilizing medication, mental health directives and housing assistance.

Plans can be made for up to 12-24 months based on the person's situation.

A public defender and a supporter will also be made available to help people with their seld-directed care.

Short-term stabilization medications, wellness and recovery supports and connection to social services, including a housing plan, will all be provided to people in CARE court.

“Governor Newsom’s groundbreaking CARE Court proposal breaks through on a key missing piece of the homeless challenge,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said. “For people who are the sickest and most vulnerable on our streets, the governments responsible for helping them must be legally obligated to act.”

If a person can't complete a plan, they can be recommended for a conservatorship, consistent with the current law, if no other solution is possible.

All California counties will participate in Care court if the proposal is approved by the Legislature.