By Colton McAllister, Politics Reporter

Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled out CARE Court with promises as big as California’s budget. He told voters it’d be the bold fix to help thousands of people suffering from severe mental illness and living on the streets. But nearly two years in, the numbers show a program burning through mountains of taxpayer cash while barely moving the needle.

The state has already spent $159.6 million on CARE Court in just two years. How many people are actually receiving services? Fewer than 550. That works out to over $290,000 per person — an eye-popping cost that makes CARE Court one of the most expensive failures in state government.

Promises vs. Reality

Newsom’s administration projected the program would reach between 7,000 and 12,000 Californians. The reality has been a fraction of that: just 2,421 petitions filed statewide, leading to only 528 treatment agreements. Out of all those cases, only 14 court-ordered treatment plans have been issued by judges. Fourteen.

In Los Angeles County, officials once predicted they could enroll 4,500 people in the first year. Instead, they filed 511 petitions and landed just 112 agreements. San Diego County expected 1,000 petitions and 250 treatment plans. After nearly two years, the numbers sit at 384 petitions and 134 voluntary agreements.

Families Are Walking Away

The whole pitch behind CARE Court was that families could finally get their loved ones into treatment. But the numbers tell a different story: nearly half of petitions are dismissed statewide, and in San Francisco, almost two-thirds get thrown out.

Even families who initially cheered for the program are now saying “no thanks.” They’ve seen what California offers and decided it’s not worth the trouble. The state’s services are so ineffective that even desperate parents don’t want to put their loved ones through the process.

A Coercive Program That Doesn’t Deliver

At its core, CARE Court is a coercive system that can force people into treatment plans. But coercion means nothing when the state has no real solutions to offer. That’s why most cases end in voluntary “agreements” that clients are free to ignore — and most do.

The program has become exactly what critics warned about: a headline-grabbing gimmick designed to make Newsom look like he’s taking action, while actually wasting resources that could have gone into proven programs.

Taxpayers Deserve Better

For Californians paying some of the highest taxes in the nation, CARE Court is just another example of Sacramento’s broken promises. Newsom trashed the old system as a failure, then built something even worse.

With more than $159 million spent and almost nothing to show for it, CARE Court is less about fixing California’s crisis and more about propping up the governor’s political image. Taxpayers deserve accountability — not another bloated bureaucracy that fails the very people it was supposed to help.