As part of its ongoing bid to address homelessness and affordable housing shortages, California has announced that it will invest $95.8 million through the Homekey+ program to build permanent supportive homes and six manager units.
The funding recipients include:
- The Housing Authority of the County of Sacramento (SHRA) will spend $31.5 million to rehabilitate a two-story hotel into 59 permanent supportive housing units and one manager unit.
- The city of Merced will receive $28.3 million to build 66 homes and one manager unit. A total of 20 homes featured in the project will provide housing for veterans at risk of homelessness struggling with behavioral health issues.
- The city of Riverside will use $20.1 million to buy and rehabilitate a motel into a permanent supportive housing community. The community will feature 114 studio apartments, with 94 of those units going toward people experiencing homelessness with a behavioral health issue. The city will allocate two units for on-site managers.
- The Housing Authority of the County of San Joaquin will receive $10.6 million to rehabilitate a vacant medical building into a 34-unit permanent supportive residence community. The authority will dedicate 14 of those homes to veterans and one as a manager unit.
- The county of Nevada will use the remaining $5.3 million to develop a community in close proximity to local transit options. Plans include rehabilitating a two-story hotel into 16 permanent supportive homes and one manager unit, with 10 of those units being provided to veterans.
Homekey+ represents the latest slate of project pushing the state’s efforts to provide reliable, safe housing to its most vulnerable communities. The program is buoyed by Proposition 1 – a $6.4 billion measure approved in 2023 to usher in a new era of anti-homelessness measures by expanding affordable housing developments and improving behavioral health care. To date, Homekey+ has awarded $636.1 million to build more than 1,800 homes.
Full deployment of Proposition 1’s assets is anticipated to create 6,800 residential treatment beds and 26,7000 outpatient treatment slots. Homekey+ projects take up a significant portion of those investments, with more than $1 billion scheduled to go toward cities, counties, housing authorities and tribal entities to advance projects serving veterans. An additional $1.1 billion will be used to target all populations.
As part of Proposition 1’s ongoing implementation, the state rolled out an array of accountability tools in late August 2024 to track progress on deployment of critical mental healthcare and housing initiatives. These include:
- Maps showing which counties have begun the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Court program to assist with psychosis and schizophrenia care.
- Maps tracking which counties are implementing reformed conservatorship laws.
- Thermometers measuring treatment slots being built for outpatient visits, residential beds for inpatient treatment, permanent supportive housing units and housing units for veterans.
Earlier that year, the state released up to $3.3 billion from Proposition 1 to expand treatment facilities and beds for individuals struggling with mental illness or substance abuse. These efforts are critical ventures to address the state’s 7,000 behavioral health bed shortfall as facilities capable of providing reliable treatment are developed and deployed.
California’s efforts to address long-standing homelessness and mental health challenges have made a significant impact since full-scale implementation commenced. In 2024, California’s homelessness rate increased by only 3% compared to the national average increase of more than 18%. The state continues to make strides as officials work to reform conservatorship laws, break down systemic housing barriers, create shelter and support for homeless individuals, remove dangerous encampments and connect underserved populations with essential resources and care.
Photo by D Goug from Pexels
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