Why CARE Court Matters — and What It Means for Our Community
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California’s new CARE Court program was designed with good intentions — to connect some of the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness with mental health treatment and support. But recent reporting shows that the reality has been far more complicated than policymakers hoped.
CARE Court was launched in 2023 as a court-based system focused on people living with severe mental illnesses, like schizophrenia, who often struggle without treatment while experiencing homelessness. It allows family members, first responders, or clinicians to petition a judge to help connect someone to services, treatment, and housing support through a court-supervised plan.
But two years in, data from counties across California tell us that:
Fewer than a third of CARE Court petitions were for people who were homeless when they entered the program, and
Only a small number of people who were homeless ended up in stable housing through the process.
Part of the challenge comes down to how CARE Court works in practice. In many places, counties have limited housing resources — beds, transitional housing, or community placements — and the court process itself can’t create more housing where none exists. Tracking outcomes is also inconsistent across counties, so it’s difficult to know exactly how many people have actually been helped into stable homes.
For individuals and families, the experience can be heartbreaking. Some participants and loved ones in the system hoped CARE Court would stabilize mental health struggles and get someone off the street. In many cases, that hasn’t happened — with people returning to homelessness or remaining in limbo months later.
Yet CARE Court has shown that when housing and support are available, lives can change. There are stories of individuals who finally received treatment and a roof over their heads — even if those cases are fewer than advocates hoped.
So what does this mean for people and organizations serving people experiencing homelessness?
At Grandma’s House of Hope, we see firsthand that housing stability and compassionate support go hand in hand. Programs like CARE Court highlight that legal and policy frameworks alone aren’t enough — people need safe, stable homes, ongoing care, and community relationships to truly heal and thrive. That’s exactly the heart of what we do: we provide not just shelter, but trust, community, and dignity to neighbors in need.
While CARE Court may help some people access services, organizations like ours are essential because we fill the gaps where formal systems fall short — providing the long-term housing and supportive wraparound care that many participants still lack.
You can read the original article here.
