Turlock mayor: Gov. Gavin Newsom, spare us the moral lectures | Opinion

Gov. Gavin Newsom was indignant when the City of Turlock declined to provide a $1 contribution and an unconditional letter of support for a problematic nonprofit homeless shelter. He did not just disagree; he scolded. He publicly accused our city of a “moral failure,” mocked our concerns as “ridiculous” and threatened to withhold state funding unless we fell in line.

All this outrage over one shelter, one letter and one dollar.

Fast-forward to today, and the governor’s indignation has quietly vanished — along with meaningful state funding for homelessness.

In his final budget, Newsom has ended meaningful new investment in homelessness services. After years of boasting about billions spent, the state is now pulling back, offering no major new funding while tightening accountability requirements and shifting the burden squarely onto cities and counties.

Specifically, Newsom’s proposed budget omits a critical homelessness grant — funding for the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program.

Housing and homelessness advocates across California are openly disappointed. Federal funds are drying up, and emergency housing vouchers are expiring. Yet local governments are still being told: no excuses.

The irony is staggering.

When Turlock asked reasonable questions about oversight, accountability, partnerships, public health and neighborhood impacts, we were lectured. When we raised concerns about supporting a shelter that works only at night, lacks 24-hour bathroom access, spends a disproportionate share of its budget on administration and serves a population where more than one-third are not Turlock residents, we were told compassion required silence.

It did not.

The letter of support requested by We Care was not symbolic. It was a formal resolution with real operational and financial implications, yet it offered the city no enforceable standards or oversight tools. The city did not order the shelter to close. We asked for basic conditions — 24-hour bathroom access or help with cleanup in their immediate sphere of influence — to address ongoing public health issues downtown. The shelter initially agreed, then backed out and instead chose to attack the city publicly.

For that, the governor chose to shame us.

What the governor did not address then — and still refuses to address now — is the larger failure of state leadership. His own administration commissioned an audit to track over $24 billion spent on homelessness. The result was staggering: $15 billion unaccounted for, with the remaining funds lacking any meaningful evaluation of outcomes. The crisis worsened.

Now, rather than owning that failure, the governor is scaling back funding and pointing fingers at cities like Turlock — cities that are demanding results.

The governor cannot have it both ways. Newsom does not get to berate a city for refusing to rubber-stamp funding one year, then quietly walk away from the checkbook the next. He does not get to demand accountability only after the money is gone.

Turlock’s position has been consistent: compassion must come with responsibility. We refuse to fund systems that manage homelessness rather than reduce it, and we will not be shamed for insisting on transparency and results.

Compassion without accountability is not leadership — and Turlock will stand for both.

Amy Bublak is the mayor of Turlock.