California sends a message on homelessness — and Newsom

BY: RACHEL BLUTH | 03/21/2024 05:53 PM EDT

SACRAMENTO, California — Proposition 1 was a major victory for Gov. Gavin Newsom. It was also a lesson and a warning.

The $6.4 billion bond measure — which overhauls how the state addresses the overlapping crises of homelessness, drug addiction and untreated mental illness — passed late Wednesday by the thinnest of margins, barely 30,000 votes in a state of nearly 40 million people.

Newsom, who made Prop 1 the centerpiece of his political agenda this year, celebrated the win Thursday but acknowledged the obvious message from voters.