BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — 13 mayors from the biggest cities in California have come together to support the implementation of Senate Bill 43, which would update the definition of "gravely disabled" for the purpose of providing easier access to resources for people with severe mental illness or disordered substance use. Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh was among the bill's advocates.
In Bakersfield, the housing crisis can be seen in the faces on street corners and the sleeping bags pushed up against buildings. The Mission at Kern County is just one of the city's organizations who agree with the mayor and other state leaders that SB 43 will be able to address how some of the people who experience homelessness, like Jeffery Hudson, got there in the first place.
"I made havoc of my life," said Hudson. "I needed a place to start over. I came here [The Mission at Kern County] in a really, really poor condition. As soon as I entered the gates here, the front line people just accepted me as I was. They gave me back my self-esteem. They just… I felt at home."
Hudson says prior to coming to The Mission at Kern County, he was in and out of jail and experiencing homelessness. With the help of The Mission's services, he says he turned his life around. Hudson has been taking college courses and has already received job offers this month.
"When you're in substance abuse or in the condition that's common, you carry a lot of shame, and when people actually reach out and they'll actually touch your body, or just getting closer and interact with you, it just brings back a lot of self-esteem and humanity," said Hudson.
Director of The Mission at Kern County Carlos Baldovinos says that there are often people at The Mission who are dealing with mental illness or substance abuse issues. He says The Mission needs support from the city to encourage people to receive services.
"We needed this a long time ago, right? We've been talking about this for several years now. It's encouraging that it's a Senate Bill 43," said Baldovinos. "Again, we needed it yesterday or the year before or the year before, but we love to see it now in the immediate future."
Mayor Karen Goh says she believes SB 43 will help broaden the qualifications to get people the help they need with its aim to address how mental illness and disordered substance use are contributing to homelessness in Bakersfield.
Goh supported the bill alongside 12 other California mayors of the largest cities in the state, saying that expanding the definition of "gravely disabled" will make vital resources more accessible to unhoused people in Bakersfield.
"We cannot even compel them into treatment because they don't fit the definition, and so this will allow us to connect them to psychiatric help, to get them the medication, to put them, perhaps, through a substance abuse treatment which will make all the difference in people who, currently right now, cannot determine that they are severely, severely ill and putting themselves in danger," Goh said.
Baldovinos says that following the pandemic, The Mission is seeing increased demand for substance abuse recovery programs.
"I'd like to see the folks that are out there that are battling substance abuse, that are battling mental illness, that they are encouraged to go into some sort of services to stabilize them," said Baldovinos. "Because like I often say, this is somebody's son, somebody's daughter, somebody's husband, somebody's niece. Somebody loves them, and we need to start looking at these people with that compassion to get them into services."
Goh says the bill received opposition at its first introduction in December 2022, but she says she's hopeful the widespread support across the state will get our community the help it needs.
And Hudson says he's still staying at the shelter, in the second step of the program, and he's looking forward to a bright future.
"Walking to and from college right now, I walk through the homeless every day, and I just carry cards now. I try to get everybody to come here and give themselves a chance," said Hudson.
In addition to SB 43 expanding the definition of "gravely ill" and making resources more accessible, SB 363 will establish an online dashboard to display the number of beds available in psychiatric and substance abuse facilities across the state. The goal is to help providers quickly secure treatment for clients and reduce the amount of time someone being transferred into treatment has to stay in the emergency room waiting for a spot.
