Newsom sending funds to four Bay Area cities to increase action on homlessness

Oakland, Mountain View, San Francisco, Milpitas on Project Homekey’s list

New funding for long-term homeless housing continues to roll into the Bay Area, as Gov. Gavin Newsom doles out grants to help cities and counties create shelter that will outlast the coronavirus pandemic.

But who are the lucky winners so far?

Following Newsom’s announcement Monday of $236 million in additional grants throughout California, officials in Milpitas, Oakland and Mountain View on Tuesday showcased what they plan to do with their share of the money. The funding comes from Newsom’s $600 million Project Homekey fund, a pot of federal and state money intended to help cities and counties buy hotels, apartments and other buildings and turn them into long-term homeless housing.

Oakland received $20 million for two projects. The city plans to buy Clifton Hall, a California College of the Arts dormitory in Rockridge, and turn it into 63 apartments for seniors and families. The city also plans to work with Bay Area Community Services to develop 100 units across 20 scattered sites throughout Oakland.

“This announcement from Gov. Newsom will help us alleviate the human suffering of homelessness in Oakland,” Mayor Libby Schaaf wrote in a news release. “Homekey gives us the resources to convert existing facilities into permanently affordable housing for our unsheltered residents right now, and it paves the way for more innovative strategies in the future.”

In the South Bay, Santa Clara County won $29.2 million to convert a Milpitas hotel into apartments for unhoused residents. The motel, an Extended Stay America on Hillview Court, will provide 132 permanent homes. Some, according to the county, will house people who became homeless as a result of the pandemic.

The project will be the first in Milpitas fully dedicated to permanent supportive housing.

“This funding comes at a time when the need for affordable housing is greater than ever, as the current pandemic exacerbates the challenges being faced by our most vulnerable residents,” Cindy Chavez, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, wrote in a news release. “Service-enriched permanent housing is a proven solution.”

There will be neighborhood meetings in the coming weeks to discuss the planned project with the community, according to the county.

In Mountain View, the city received $11.9 million to set up modular housing for about 120 people on Leghorn Street, near the Palo Alto border, according to Elizabeth Funk, founder of Dignity Moves, which is working on the project.

The units will serve as transitional housing for homeless residents, giving them a place to shelter while caseworkers help them find permanent housing. Each individual or family will have their own room.

Including the cost of the land, the project will cost less than $100,000 per unit to build, Funk said. That’s compared to $500,000 to $750,000 per unit for traditional affordable housing. And they’re much faster to assemble, as Dignity Moves plans to move people in within three months.

When it’s complete, the Dignity Moves housing will be Mountain View’s first transitional housing program. The city has few housing options for homeless residents. Trinity United Methodist Church offers about 30 shelter beds, but only in the winter months, and the city provides about 100 safe parking spots for people living in their vehicles.

The city is “extremely excited” about the project, said Mountain View Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga.

“I hope it works out, because if it does, it will really open the door for us being able to consider more of these projects and being able to house more homeless folks quickly and more cost-effectively,” she said.

The governor’s office also awarded $44.8 million to San Francisco, for the city to buy the Granada Hotel and convert it into permanent supportive housing. The 232-room hotel in the city’s Lower Nob Hill neighborhood will continue to house its existing low-income residents, according to the city. Unhoused residents will be moved into the hotel’s vacant rooms.

“We know that housing is the solution to homelessness,” Mayor London Breed wrote in a news release. “Throughout this public health crisis, we have provided emergency housing for thousands of unsheltered people but we have also developed a longterm Homelessness Recovery Plan to provide shelter and housing for thousands of people for years to come. Homekey funding will help our transition from response to recovery.”

Last week, Newsom awarded $14.5 million to San Jose to buy a 76-unit motel and turn it into longterm housing. And Contra Costa County won $21.6 million to turn a Motel 6 in Pittsburg into interim housing for homeless residents.

Newsom’s office originally said it would set aside $100 million in Project Homekey funding for the Bay Area. But in just the first two weeks of funding announcements, the Bay Area already has won more than that. Even so, many local applicants are bound to be disappointed. Local cities and counties submitted 29 applications seeking $324 million.