On Monday, Governor Newsom announced the third round of awards for Project Homekey, a program administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) that provides grant funding to cities, counties, or other local public entities within California to purchase and rehabilitate housing, as well as hotels, motels, vacant apartment buildings, and other buildings and convert them into interim or permanent, long-term housing. More than $137 million was awarded in this round for 19 projects in 15 California communities, including several RCRC member counties.

  • Del Norte County has been awarded $2.8 million to convert an existing thirty-unit motel into interim housing by the end of the year, and permanent housing by July 2021 in partnership with the Rural Communities Housing Development Corporation.
  • Humboldt County has been awarded $4.3 million to convert a motel into forty-eight permanent supportive housing units, with six of those units providing recuperative care to individuals requiring medical care after exiting hospitalization.
  • Lake County has been awarded $3.38 million for Hope Center to serve up to twenty homeless individuals as they prepare for permanent housing placement.
  • Sutter County has been awarded $6.8 million, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Yuba/Sutter, to acquire a hotel with sixty-two one-bedroom units for permanent housing.
  • Tehama County has been awarded $2.34 million to acquire a property that will prevent the loss of ten existing units and add an additional six units. Located on an operating farm, residents will receive job training.

Other awards impacting RCRC member counites include:

  • The award of $1.24 million to the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians for the rehabilitation of a ten-unit multifamily residential property which will become permanent housing, just north of Lakeport, in Lake County.
  • The award of $4.14 million to the Mariposa Health and Human Services Agency for the purchase of a twenty-seven room hotel that the county has been operating for several months, focused on serving seniors and people under 65 with a disability.
  • The award of $5.2 million to the Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency for the purchase a forty-five room motel. Most units will serve as a shelter for individuals at risk from COVID-19, with remaining units converted into permanent supportive housing.

Of the $600 million allocated for Project Homekey, $449.9 has now been awarded. Additional awards are expected weekly until all $600 million has been awarded. However, this week, Governor Newsom asked the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to approve an additional $200 in Coronavirus Relief Funding for Homekey which, if approved, would provide local governments with a total of $800 million under Homekey.

Resources are available for jurisdictions developing spending plans for Homekey funds. This summer, the California Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council released a Guide to Strategic Uses of Key State and Federal Funds to Reduce Homelessness During the COVID-19 Pandemic. They also produced a short 29 minute Strategic Funding Guide Webinar that walks through the different elements of the guide, how to use it, and recommendations for grantees and local governments developing their own spending plans. Detailed information about Project Homekey is available on the HCD website here.