In what used to be an east Oakland Quality Inn, Governor Newsom, along with other state, city and county leaders announced $99 million in grants to go toward Oakland and five other cities to transform more unused buildings into permanent housing for the homeless.
“Homekey saves lives this is not about dollars and cents and units,” said Tamika Moss of California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. “This is about providing urgent response and services and housing to the people who need it the most and that is what this program does.”
It’s part of Project Homekey. In 12 months, the Old Quality Inn will be converted into 77 units dedicated to providing housing for the homeless. Another 26 units will be converted to help with transitional support for youth turning unused buildings into livable spaces like this one already finished in Southern California.
For critics who say it’s not enough, Newsom is urging voters to approve more money to address the growing homeless population on the march ballot.
“I drive around, I see what I see, everybody is angry about it. I understand, that’s why it is absolutely critical that people support proposition one because proposition one is on the ballot in just a matter of weeks, provides an additional $2 billion specifically to continue the success of this program,” said the governor.
Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley said the county is working to provide solutions including supportive services to prevent becoming a burden in the communities Homekey is located.
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“We are producing permanent supportive housing with wrap around services but more people are become unsheltered than we are able to house,” said Miley. “So, the more housing we provide, the more resources we have to provide services, the better.”
The governor announced that $14 million of the $99 million will go to provide another 41 Homekey affordable housing units in downtown Oakland, adding to the more than 15,000 units statewide the program has turned into homes.
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“In this area alone its over 1,00 units, and many of those are housing families,” said Senator Nancy Skinner. “We are talking about a good number of people that otherwise did not have roofs over their heads, that are now going to be permanently housed.”
Last year, the project doled out more than $730 million in grant funding to cities, counties and other local public entities to pay for the conversions.
Meanwhile, Newsom pulled back on a promise to build tiny homes in San Jose. Instead of delivering 200 prebuilt tiny homes to the city, he is sending a $12 million check for the city itself to build them.
San Jose city leaders say $12 million is not enough, and they will have to fill a $5 million to $10 million gap to complete the project.
Those tiny homes are slated for land next to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority work yard and are part of San Jose's plan to build more than 1,400 temporary beds for transitional housing.
