Newsom announces $209 million in state funds for permanent housing in LA through Project Homekey

On Wednesday, Governor Gavin Newsom, along with city officials, announced that Los Angeles received $209 million in funding through Project Homekey, a program that converts buildings into permanent housing as a way to address the crisis of homelessness in the state. 

Seven sites around LA will be converted into permanent housing, with the city contributing an additional $157 million in matching funds to the program. In total, 15 permanent housing sites and 1,235 units will be created through the second round of funding. 

The funds are part of $694 million for the program, announced by the state, which will provide 2,500 more units across 35 projects to 19 counties. 

Newsom announced that the state has funded a total 12,500 units through the program in its first two years at a cost of $244,000 per unit, on Wednesday at a Project Homekey site on Pico Boulevard in Mid-City. 

"We're just winding up," Newsom said. "These dollars are now moving. These projects are opening up. No more talk. No more task forces. No more fights for appropriations. We got the money. We have the strategies."

While calling the homelessness crisis in California unacceptable, saying that "people are right to be angry," Newsom also praised Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for leading the charge with Project Homekey and getting other mayors on board.   

"This is part of much bigger than a drop in the bucket," Garcetti said. "This is part of a torrent of solutions that are coming."

Applications for Project Homekey are accepted on a rolling basis until funds are gone. The state expanded the program with a $2.75 billion allocation in 2021, with the goal of creating 14,000 long-term housing units. The state began the program with $846 million in funding.

Representative Karen Bass, who is running for mayor and has also helped get federal funding for local housing, appeared with Newsom at Wednesday's announcement. 

"This is an example of the solution," said Bass, D-Los Angeles. "We obviously have to get people off the street right away into temporary (housing), but at the end of the day, it's about permanent supportive housing. To be here today and to see this development, this is a very exciting step in the right direction."

For it's part, Los Angeles County received $243 million in funds, which will help convert 14 hotels and multi-family apartments into temporary or permanent housing, adding 720 units in Boyle Heights, Compton, East Hollywood, Inglewood, Koreatown, Redondo Beach, Lancaster, San Pedro Westlake, Woodland Hills and unincorporated areas of the county.