The San Diego Union Tribune
By Akilah Templeton
Templeton is the president & CEO of Veterans Village of San Diego and lives in San Diego.
For decades, California has been dealing with the consequences of policies that have made life more difficult for our veterans and thousands of Californians suffering from mental illness and living on our streets.
When the state’s psychiatric hospitals were shut down in the late 1950s and early 1960s, people with serious mental illness were left with very few options for accessing care and critical services. Community-based mental health care was never properly funded, and, as a result, people struggling with severe mental illness have had difficulty going at it alone. Rising homelessness rates, the criminalization of offenses associated with homelessness, increases in co-morbid diseases and higher suicide rates are a few of the problems Californians are now grappling with. These problems became more visible in the wake of a global pandemic where communities were left scrambling to find ways to care for their most vulnerable citizens.
Every Californian has been touched by our state’s mental health and homelessness crisis. But these issues disproportionately impact those who have served our country and communities of color.
More than 10,000 veterans in California are homeless and unsheltered — so many of them suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The California Association of Veteran Service Agencies, or CAVSA, recently released its 2023 annual report, which lists alarming statistics that clearly demonstrate the need for dedicated funding to support veterans and more specifically homeless veterans suffering with mental illness. In 2022, more veterans committed suicide than in years prior, nearly 100,000 California veterans reported experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder and more than 300,000 California veterans experienced food insecurity.
The veteran service agencies’ annual report also highlights concerns that the Mental Health Services Act — the law voters passed in 2004 to provide dedicated funding to behavioral health programs — is not being used by some counties to adequately fund veteran-specific programs and services as originally promised.
We need to do more to ensure that those who have so selflessly served our country have basic access to health care, mental health care, housing and supportive services. Proposition 1 puts us on track to do just that.
Proposition 1 will also provide $1 billion to specifically serve veterans experiencing homelessness, mental health challenges and substance abuse issues, ensuring more people who served our country can get the treatment and health care they deserve.
Proposition 1 authorizes $6.4 billion in bonds and directs billions more annually towards fixing our broken mental health system and moving people off the streets, out of tents and into treatment.
We must begin to take the necessary steps toward fixing a broken system that has left many Californians struggling to survive. We can begin to improve the quality of life for every person affected. Proposition 1 gets us closer to that reality.
Currently, those with serious mental health issues can wait six months or longer just for an introductory appointment. Proposition 1 will help fund additional professionals so that people with mental health needs can get help much more quickly.
This is not a Democratic or Republican issue. Nearly 90 percent of Californians agree that we are facing a mental health crisis in this country and that we need to take steps to address it. Proposition 1 will refocus billions of dollars in existing funding to ensure Californians with the deepest mental needs — those who are living in encampments or who are suffering the worst substance abuse issues — are given the help they need, which will help all of our communities.
That’s why Proposition 1 is supported by first responders, mental health professionals, doctors and nurses, and veterans groups.
Vote “Yes” on Proposition 1.