SAN DIEGO — In March, California voters will head to the polls to decide whether to overhaul the state's mental health system.
Proposition 1 would not only create new housing options for those who are chronically homeless and mentally ill but also prioritize services for them, like substance abuse treatment.
One of the primary goals of Prop 1 is to update California's 'Mental Health Services Act,' which was signed into law twenty years ago.
Supporters of this move say that our state's behavioral health crisis has shifted significantly over the past two decades, and how we fund it needs to change as well.
Governor Gavin Newsom has been making the case for Proposition 1, which aims to overhaul the state's current mental health system. It would also create a $6.4 billion bond, which would be used to fund 11,000 new behavioral health beds, as well as add more housing for the homeless, including veterans.
"If we're really going to tackle the homelessness crisis, we have to invest in behavioral health, and Prop 1 does just that," said Josh Bohannon of Father Joe's Villages, which serves thousands of unsheltered San Diegans every year, from meals to housing to supportive services.
He said passing Prop 1 could transform the way California approaches the state's current homeless crisis and behavioral health crisis.
"It's a new way of doing things," he told CBS 8, "but I think new ways are good things, and new things need to happen."
"Back in 2004, we didn't have the housing crisis that we have today," he added, "and housing is a huge component to helping someone with behavioral health issues. They need a stable place to live and recover."
Bohannon also pointed to how much the behavioral crisis has also shifted over the years, with new threats like Fentanyl exacerbating the situation.
"Prop 1 is a way to help counties throughout the state to accurately and correctly invest the funds where they need to go," he explained.
'What I see is, this will make the homeless crisis worse," countered Paul Simmons. a mental health worker who's part of Californians Against Prop 1, a group dedicated to opposing this measure, which it deems "huge, expensive and destructive.".
"It is going to take away services from people who need it," Simmons said.
He believes that the current 'Mental Health Services Act' is working and that Prop 1 would disrupt -- or de-fund - current behavioral health services being offered by individual counties.
"I go back to Hippocrates, 'First, do no harm,' " he added. "This is going to do harm. You don't just destroy a system just because it's not working as well as it could be."
Simmons also said that, while Prop 1 will create some more housing, the addition of new behavioral health beds is not the solution.
"A hospital bed is not a home," he said.
"Our lack of behavioral health resources is a tragedy," said San Diego City Council Member Raul Campillo.
Earlier this month, the San Diego City Council voiced its unanimous support for Prop 1. through a resolution introduced by Campillo.
"Passing Prop 1 saves us money in the long term because doing nothing -- what we've been doing for a long time -- is far more expensive," Campillo said last week.
So far, voters also seem to support the move. A recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found that two-thirds of likely voters would vote 'yes' on the proposition.
Critics, though, said they plan to continue their campaign.
"We will keep fighting until March 5th, and then even after March 5th we will keep fighting," Simmons said.
Prop 1 supporters, on the other hand, said that now is the time for innovation.
"The behavioral health crisis has changed in the last few years," Bohannon told CBS 8, "so what we provide needs to change as well."
Voters will be heading to the polls to vote on this proposition on Tuesday, March 5.