Closing Keynote: Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg focused on addressing homelessness

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said addressing the overconcentration of unhoused people living in the city is a primary health concern of his.

Steinberg discussed his professional experience attempting to address the issue, and said there weren’t as many officials working on homelessness in the 1990s, as it was highly stigmatized then, and fewer people wanted to take that on. 

“What is so hopeful to me now is that mental health, behavioral health, is finally having its moment for a variety of reasons. Society sometimes evolves in positive ways. The younger generation is no longer afraid to talk about the brain and their own struggles. Certainly, COVID has changed the world in so many ways, including the fact that people are coming out of the closet—[a] different closet—talking about how much they’ve suffered, especially young people.” 

— Steinberg

Steinberg said Gov. Gavin Newsom is the first governor he’s worked with who has made homelessness a priority. 

“There’s a frustration in California that, while we’re getting a lot of people off the streets, that there are still too many people who are living out there.”

— Steinberg

Steinberg discussed Proposition 1, which will create $6.4 billion in funding to develop treatment beds and housing for those experiencing serious mental illness. He said the proposition encourages counties to work with the state to identify evidence-based practices around prevention and early intervention, like psychosis identification for students. 

“(Proposition) 1 will require now that the counties and the state come to an agreement about what those model practices are, and then spend that 20 percent or so on those programs.”