The city of Richmond won a $14.5 million state grant to buy a former Motel 6 and turn it into 48 housing units for people who have been or are at-risk of being homeless.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced the grant Wednesday as part of $130.6 million in funding awarded to nine projects statewide that will create 533 permanent supportive homes. Homekey is a state program to expand housing for Californians at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness.
“We are proud to stand with local partners who are serving their communities by providing much-needed housing to alleviate homelessness,” Newsom said in a press release issued Wednesday. “We’ll continue to support local governments who are doing the work to ensure everyone has a place to call home.”
Richmond will buy the hotel at 425 24th St. for $4.9 million for its Civic Center Apartments acquisition and rehabilitation project to create 48 residences and one manager unit.
Richmond’s director of community development, Lina Velasco, told Richmondside that the funds will help the city fulfill goals identified in the Richmond Homelessness Strategic Plan adopted in 2023.
Given recent news that Newsom ordered cities to eradicate homeless encampments and that a proposed Bay Area bond for housing was dropped from the November ballot, the Homekey award is good news for the city, though the need far outweighs the number of units it will provide. As Richmondside reported in June, local outreach workers estimate anywhere from 400 to 1,000 people are homeless on a given day in the Richmond area.
“Permanent supportive housing is a proven solution to homelessness for the most vulnerable since it pairs housing with case management and supportive services,” Velasco said.
Meanwhile, Bay Area drops housing bond from ballot
The City Council in June approved a 2024-25 budget with an expectation it would receive $28.7 million in pending grants to support unhoused residents, including the Homekey funding. State agencies said that the grants demonstrate that California continues to give cities money to address immediate housing needs for vulnerable residents.
“Originally an emergency measure to help curb the spread of COVID-19 among unhoused Californians, Homekey has grown and evolved into a model for supporting our families and individuals in need of housing such as deserving veterans and others experiencing behavioral health challenges,” said Gustavo Velasquez, director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, in the press release.
Homekey was launched early in the pandemic as an emergency effort to quickly shelter thousands of homeless Californians and prevent them from getting sick. Early Homekey projects focused on hotel and motel conversions, and recent projects awarded have included conversions of hospitals and modular construction for housing.
Voters’ approval of Prop. 1 helps fund housing and wrap-around supportive services for veterans and other Californians who are at risk of, or experiencing homelessness or chronic homelessness and also suffering from mental and behavioral health challenges, Newsom’s office said. Since 2020, the state spent $3.6 billion to support 259 projects that will include 15,850 homes, and expects to serve more than 172,000 California households.
However, Newsom’s recent actions to clear homeless encampments on state property have also drawn concern and even outrage from advocates. He ordered state employees in late July to remove homeless encampments following a June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that ended protections for homeless people living in encampments in western states. The court upheld an Oregon law banning sleeping outdoors, setting a precedent that allows cities and states to crack down on homeless camps.
Following his July 30 order, Velasco told Richmondside that the state controls certain properties where camps are located, such as land near BART and Interstates 80 and 580. State officials could force unhoused people living on these properties to move.
There aren’t many options for residents at risk of becoming homeless due to financial pressures. Richmond funds a rent relief program for those facing housing stress and possible homelessness. But according to Velasco, the need is far greater than the available resources.
Additionally, Richmond and other cities around the Bay were hoping that voters would approve the Measure 4 bond for housing. Bay Area officials on Wednesday pulled a ballot measure that could have generated $20 billion for affordable housing across the region.
The board voted unanimously to reverse their decision and pull the measure, after polling found that about 55% of Bay Area voters support the bond, significantly under the two-thirds “supermajority” threshold needed to pass. To fund the bond, property owners would have been taxed at a rate of $19 per $100,000 in assessed property value.
Velasco said Wednesday that the city is disappointed that voters will not get the chance to vote on a measure which could have helped finance affordable housing projects across Richmond in addition to other Contra Costa County cities.
“The city has several approved affordable housing developments that are seeking financing to produce the units, and Measure 4 was being explored as a potential source to produce these units sooner,” Velasco said. “Without these new funds, these affordable housing developments will continue to compete for the limited financing that is available and will likely delay the production of these affordable units.”
Oaklandside reporter Natalie Orenstein contributed to this report.
As a man that has been houseless for 12 years I often wonder why the powers that be will not look to the people who are unhoused for the answers? I have spoken to thousands of people like myself and resoundingly the thing that most truly want is a door that locks and a shower. This problem could be solved very economically with the use of unused land and some shipping containers. I have tried and tried to get with city leaders to no avail maybe someday they will take the opportunity to use the knowledge I have.