SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will spend about $30 million to build 1,200 tiny homes across the state this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday as part of a plan to help house the nation’s largest homeless population and solving the problem that persistently plagued the state during the tenure of the governor.

The houses, some as small as 120 square feet (11 square meters), can be assembled in 90 minutes and cost a fraction of what it takes to build a permanent home. Newsom said the homes could create space to help clear out homeless encampments that have sprung up in the state’s major cities. Federal courts have ruled that cities can’t clear homeless encampments if they don’t have places to shelter them.

“We need to focus more energy and precision on the camps,” Newsom said. “There is no humanity there. People die on our watch.”

Newsom announced the plans in Sacramento on the first stop of a planned four-city tour, where he promised to make major policy announcements on housing, health care and public safety. The tour replaces the governor’s traditional State of the State address.

Local leaders across the country have used tiny houses to help their homeless population for years. In San Jose, a city of nearly a million people on the south side of San Francisco Bay, Mayor Matt Mahan said the city had built 500 tiny houses in the past three years. The city’s unsheltered homeless rate fell to 75% from 84%, the first decline in years, he said.

“If you look around the world at the places that have dealt with this problem, it’s because they’ve expanded the safe places that people can go,” he said.

But critics said Newsom was spending more money on things it couldn’t help. Since taking office in 2019, Newsom has signed more than $22.3 billion in new spending on housing and homeless programs. Homelessness in California has increased by 6% since 2020, compared to a 0.4% increase in the rest of the country, according to an analysis of federal data by the Public Policy Institute of California.

California is now home to nearly a third of all homeless people in the United States.

“It’s just another band-aid for a crisis that’s gotten out of hand in California,” said Brian Jones, the Republican leader of the state Senate. “We know that throwing money at this problem does not work.”

Sacramento will get 350 homes. Los Angeles will get 500, San Jose will get 200 and San Diego will get 150. While the state pays to build and install the homes, local governments will be responsible for their upkeep. This includes deciding where to place them. Homes will have electricity but no plumbing, water or kitchen appliances, according to the governor’s office.

Bob Erlenbush, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, called Newsom’s proposal “a modest step forward.” He estimated that there would be enough homes in Sacramento to house about 10% of the city’s homeless population.

“I would like elected officials, not just the governor, but the entire state, to take a broader perspective in terms of trying to approach our homeless and affordable housing crisis with a sense of scale rather than a 10% solution,” he said. said.

Newsom acknowledged the criticism Thursday, saying he knows progress isn’t coming fast enough. He said tiny houses aren’t the answer, but they can help.

“It’s not just about sweeping things under the rug or getting people off the streets and sidewalks and claiming a job well done,” Newsom said. “It’s not fair.”

California’s homelessness problem is in part a byproduct of a lack of affordable housing, a problem that advocates say affects far more people than just those living on the streets.

Naten Avelar, 18, said he has struggled with unstable housing for most of his life. Avelar grew up with his mother and twin brother in the Central Valley town of Merced, where he says there’s plenty of new housing, but it’s all out of reach.

For several years, they lived in a house that was infested with mold, which aggravated his brother’s asthma and forced them to leave the house. They moved in with his grandmother; if it weren’t for her home, which they often shared with many other family members, Avelar said they would probably be homeless.

“I remember a couple of times we went house hunting and we always saw these beautiful houses on the street and I knew we would never be able to afford them,” he said. “It was really sad.”

Avellard, who worked part-time on the voter engagement team that supported Newsom during his failed 2021 recall effort, said he wants the governor’s administration to build more affordable housing.

Leaders of the state’s largest cities and counties want Sacramento to more clearly define their role in the fight against homelessness and how the state will measure the success of local programs that receive state funding.

Currently, state funding for the homeless has “various rules that have to be put in place and half a dozen different state departments to find one program,” said Graham Knauss, executive director of the California Association of Counties. “It needs to change. This is not government at its best.”

The association’s solution is to petition the state legislature to pass laws that clearly define the responsibilities of local and state governments, coupled with annual state funding for local governments. Knaus said the association is talking to lawmakers and the governor’s office about passing the legislation.

“We certainly shouldn’t expect to make permanent progress on homelessness using one-time funding,” he said.