Newsom Names Humboldt a ‘CARE Champion,’ Cites County as Model for Mental Health Court Referrals

Jacob Rosen of CARE and Commander LaFrance of CSET at the Eureka Police Department, discussing homelessness outreach and fentanyl use n 2023.  [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

During a news conference yesterday announcing $291 million in behavioral health and housing funding (and poking at what he said were underperforming counties), Newsom identified Humboldt as one of ten counties leading California in per-capita CARE Court petitions which is how his administration is measuring implementation success.

Humboldt joins Alameda, Santa Barbara, Tuolumne, Marin, Napa, Merced, Sutter, San Mateo and Imperial counties on the Governor’s first “CARE Champions” list.

As RHBB previously reported, Humboldt County has one of the highest per-capita referral rates in the state.

Launched here at the end of 2024, Humboldt’s CARE Court program has already received 55 referrals, which Jacob Rosen, managing mental health clinician for the city of Eureka, described as “one of the highest referral volumes per capita among counties.”

Eight of those referrals came directly from Eureka, with the city “very much involved” in several additional cases.

Statewide, more than 3,800 petitions have been submitted since rollout. Judges have approved 893 voluntary treatment agreements and ordered 32 people into CARE plans when voluntary compliance failed, according to state officials. More than 4,000 individuals have been diverted into services outside of formal CARE Court proceedings.

Newsom’s administration calculated per-capita petition rates for calendar year 2025 to determine which counties would receive the “CARE Champion” designation.

At the same event, Newsom threatened to redirect funding away from counties he described as lagging in implementation.

Ten counties — including Los Angeles, Orange, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Riverside and Fresno — were placed on what the administration is calling a “CARE ICU” list, signaling additional oversight and technical intervention.

The Governor framed the effort as part of a broader push to get people with untreated schizophrenia and psychotic disorders off the streets and into structured treatment.

Humboldt County is also among 20 regions receiving funding in the latest round of the state’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) program. Under Round 6, Humboldt County and the Humboldt County Continuum of Care will receive more than $3.7 million.

While Humboldt is being praised by the Governor’s office, and receiving new housing funds, local officials say CARE Court itself remains resource-intensive and largely unfunded.

Though created under state law, CARE Court remains “still largely an unfunded mandate,” Rosen told the Eureka City Council in February.

Humboldt County Behavioral Health currently has one clinician and one case manager assigned to the 55 referred individuals.

“For the 55 folks who have been referred, having two staff members is not sufficient for the level of intensity that’s needed,” Rosen said, noting that involuntary plans are especially time-intensive and often not fully reimbursed.

Rosen also raised concerns about compliance enforcement. Unless CARE participation is tied to a criminal diversion case, there are limited consequences for individuals who stop showing up for hearings.

If non-participation continues, Rosen said the county evaluates whether conservatorship is appropriate and may refer cases to the Public Guardian.

CARE Court was initially projected to serve between 7,000 and 12,000 Californians. Through January, the state had received 3,817 petitions.

A CalMatters investigation found that the program has served fewer Californians than anticipated and has struggled in some areas to move participants into housing.

The administration’s “CARE Champion” metric is based strictly on petitions per capita and does not include graduation rates, dismissals, or housing outcomes.

Still, Newsom is publicly elevating Humboldt as an example of aggressive adoption and doing so at a time when he is threatening to withhold funding from counties he believes are not moving fast enough.

For Humboldt County, the good news is we have a program that local leaders say is working but the bad news is that we’re stretching limited staff thin in the process.

Note: A duplicated paragraph was removed from this article after publication.