Opinion: Gavin Newsom's 400 diapers per baby is easy PR. While Public defecation has become a normalized feature of life in parts of the state
Instead of Diapers for Newborns, Governor Newsom Should Give Them to the Homeless So They’ll Stop Defecating in the Streets
Governor Newsom’s new Golden State Start program will hand out 400 free diapers to every newborn through hospitals, but critics say the state should redirect resources to the homeless crisis and restore basic sanitation on California streets.
Governor Gavin Newsom just announced a “first-in-the-nation” program called Golden State Start to provide 400 free diapers to every newborn delivered in participating California hospitals, starting this summer.
The state is partnering with the nonprofit Baby2Baby to distribute the diapers at discharge. In the first year, the program will roll out at roughly 65 to 75 hospitals handling about a quarter of the state’s births, with a focus on facilities serving low-income Medi-Cal patients.
Officials plan to distribute around 40 million diapers initially and expand statewide later. California has already allocated $7.4 million, with another $12.5 million proposed in the budget through June 2027. Newsom highlighted that diaper costs have risen about 45% since the pandemic, with families typically spending around $1,000 in a baby’s first year.
Framed as supporting families and infant health so parents can focus on “love, connection, and joy” rather than costs. Newsom called it an example of real affordability: “Every baby born in California deserves a healthy start in life.”
It’s a nice sentiment—if your biggest problem is the price of Pampers and you ignore the visible collapse of public order in California’s major cities.
California’s homelessness crisis is not abstract. In San Francisco, Los Angeles, and elsewhere, streets, sidewalks, parks, and even business entrances are routinely used as open-air toilets by people who have no diapers, no homes, and often no interest in basic hygiene or shelter rules.
Public defecation has become a normalized feature of life in parts of the state, contributing to disease outbreaks, filth, and a general breakdown in urban livability. Tourists and residents alike step over human waste while city officials issue reports and launch yet another task force.
Yet Governor Newsom’s priority is handing out state-purchased diapers (produced via Baby2Baby’s system at supposedly 80% below retail) to parents of newborns—many of whom could afford them or access private charity—while the sidewalks remain a biohazard.
If Governor Newsom truly wants to show leadership on “the basics,” he might redirect some of this energy and funding toward aggressive street cleaning, mandatory treatment for severe mental illness and addiction, enforcement against open defecation, and shelter conditions that actually encourage people off the streets.