I do not think this is something that can be done short term, no matter how capable someone is, especially when Covid was such a huge issue with homelessness - it provided the double-whamy of loss of income for many in weak positions while artificially increasing the price of real-estate with the work from home movement which made a lot of people that had homes before become homeless.
Add the fact that money is not the only issue. There are court issues and city property issues - a lot of encampments cleanups that CA govt. wanted to do were blocked by the courts even tho there were housing and services offered under the 5th amendment (protection against the taking of property by the government without compensation) - even tho it is arguable if the encampments are the homeless properties. Now, even if money is provided for housing, there is a lot of work to get sites, zoning, building etc...
So, the way I judge a candidate like Newsom is on what he says and what he tries to do within the very complicated system of the US and state government. Can he be better? Who can't? Show me someone that is able to hit 100% on all the tasks he has to perform, especially in a complicated system like modern governance (which is why I think anyone that judges politicians in a binary system is out of touch). He has clearly been active on social issues, from same sex marriage in his days as the SF Mayor to health issues and rent relief programs during the Covid pandemic, homeless issues since and actively working on the more traditional governance issues (California's economy contracted less than most during Covid and recovered faster, for example).
