Maps: California Gov. Newsom to make 286 state properties available for homeless solutions

Surplus State properties in the San Francisco Bay Area (denoted with blue dots) that are available to deal with the homeless crisis in California. Gov. Newsom has proposed to make 286 state properties available for homeless solutions. less Surplus State properties in the San Francisco Bay Area (denoted with blue dots) that are available to deal with the homeless crisis in California. Gov. Newsom has proposed to make 286 state properties available ... more Photo: State Of California Photo: State Of California Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Maps: California Gov. Newsom to make 286 state properties available for homeless solutions 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in his second State of the State address Wednesday that he's urgently responding to housing shortfalls and homelessness.

"Today, we are making 286 state properties — vacant lots, fairgrounds, armories and other state buildings — available to be used by local governments, for free, for homelessness solutions," Newsom said.

The governor didn't specify the locations of these properties in his speech, but his office released a map of the sites to SFGATE. It includes more than three dozen locations in the Bay Area (see gallery above). The majority of these are Caltrans sites, including one on Indiana Street near 23 Street and the 280 Freeway in San Francisco, a location near Spencer Avenue in Sausalito, and a spot near Peralta and Third streets in West Oakland.

Other locations not managed by Caltrans include the Napa State Hospital, the Sonoma Developmental Center, and the Redwood City Armory.

Newsom also announced that more mobile housing trailers are heading to Santa Clara, Riverside, Contra Costa, and Sonoma counties, as well as the city of Stockton, after the temporary shelters were previously sent to Oakland and Los Angeles County.

The sites and trailers are being made available due to an executive order issued by the governor in January stating that all levels of government "must do their part to provide homeless Californians with safer, healthier housing opportunities."

ALSO: California governor makes homelessness top issue in 2020

While homeless populations in most states have declined recently, California's jumped 16% last year to about 151,000 people, a problem that the governor said disproportionately affects minorities. Meanwhile, a statewide housing shortage has compounded the issue, driving up prices and contributing to more people fleeing California than moving in, the first time in 10 years the state has had a migration loss.

Newsom called it “a disgrace, that the richest state in the richest nation ... is falling so far behind to properly house, heal and humanely treat so many of its own people."

This year, Newsom wants to spend another $750 million combating homelessness and wants to give the money to as yet unnamed regional administrators instead of local governments. The independent Legislative Analysts' Office has criticized that approach, saying it likely won't have a meaningful impact.

Newsom counters that the homelessness problem is so bad the state needs to try something different. Earlier this year, he sent camping trailers from the state fleet to cities in need and ordered excess state land to be used for temporary shelters.

He's asking state lawmakers for nearly $700 million, doubling to $1.4 billion by 2022 including federal funds, to shift the focus of California's Medicaid program that provides free or low-cost medical services. He wants state and local emphasis on preventative health care, but with a broad approach that could include non-traditional assistance in finding housing, even providing rental assistance if homelessness is linked to heavy use of expensive health care services.

The governor also created a state and local “behavioral health task force” to look at the link between mental illness and substance abuse.

Newsom again stopped short of endorsing a “right to shelter,” which would require communities to have enough housing to handle all their homeless. Instead of creating such a legal mandate, Newsom said it is better for the state to work cooperatively with local governments.

He called for some changes to a tax on millionaires approved by voters in 2004 to help those with mental illness who are homeless, among other efforts, and called on counties to spend the $160 million they already have from the tax more quickly.

“Spend your mental health dollars by June 30, or we’ll make sure they get spent for you,” he warned county leaders. “It’s time to match our big-hearted empathy with tight-fisted accountability."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Amy Graff is a digital editor with SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com.