One Bay Area county is closing in on reducing its homeless population to zero.
San Mateo County used millions of dollars in federal and state funding provided to quickly create housing, reducing the number of people living on the streets, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“We’re still working on the numbers, but we do think we’ll come close to functional zero with the new projects we have up or coming on line,” County Manager Mike Callagy said to the newspaper.
The state awarded San Mateo $120 million since the end of 2020 through its Homekey program, an initiative that allows for the purchase of hotels and other buildings that can be converted into homes for the homeless. The county also received $150 million from the federal CARES program, a stimulus package passed in response to the pandemic, which can also be used to deal with the homeless.
“There are a lot of counties where they dithered, but that didn’t happen here,” said Representative Jackie Speier, whose district includes most of the county, speaking as she and other local politicians toured the Coast House interim housing complex in Half Moon Bay, a former motel on Highway 1. “This is a lasting use of the federal funding because San Mateo County saw an opportunity in a crisis.”
The county is on track to create enough housing to take 700 people into housing complexes and safe parking sites. The complexes either consist of interim units, which come with less time restrictions than transitional housing, or permanent supportive housing. The 52-room Coast House cost the county $8 million, paid for with federal dollars, and is being managed by the LifeMoves nonprofit.
Bay Area cities recently conducted the first homeless census in three years, the first since before the pandemic. Mandated by the The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the census has implications on policy and funding.
[San Francisco Chronicle] — Gabriel Poblete
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