Califorina Governor Gavin Newsom's (D) idea to tackle to the state's increasing housing crisis is to have doctors to be able to write prescriptions for houses in the same way they write prescriptions for drugs.
Newsom floated the idea during his State of the State address on Wednesday.
"This year we have proposed calling. It’s a once in a lifetime reform of our medical system based on the obvious long ignored principle that physical health and brain health are inextricably linked. After all, ten million Californians, one in four, suffer from some type of behavioral health condition. This is not a narrow issue. Nor a new one. The deeper truth is that our healthcare system though it’s been designed to treat some of our parts not the sum of our parts and that must change," Newsom said.
"Healthcare and housing can no longer be divorced. After all, what’s more fundamental to a person’s wellbeing then a roof over their head? Doctors, doctors should be able to write prescriptions for housing the same way they do for insulin and antibiotics," he continued. "That’s the aim of Cali, transforming our medic system as we know it and we backed it up with this 695 million budget request to make it real this year."
Newsom tweeted his idea on his Twitter account on Friday.
Doctors should be able to write prescriptions for housing the same way they do for insulin or antibiotics.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 21, 2020
"It’s a disgrace that the richest state in the richest nation, succeeding across so many sectors, is falling so far behind to properly house, heal and humanely treat so many of its own people," he added during the speech.