Several Southern California projects awarded millions in Homekey grants

Millions of dollars worth of Homekey grants were awarded by the state this week to help Southern California counties and cities to provide housing for people experiencing homelessness.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday announced a total of $181 million in funding to 13 new Homekey projects across the state that will eventually provide 605 housing units. The latest round of funding bring the state's total number of projects to 39 so far this year.

"Every Californian deserves a safe place to call home," Newsom said in a statement.

The biggest pot of money in this round goes to several different projects in the city and county of Los Angeles. A total of $61 million will go toward:

• acquiring and rehabilitating a 21-unit former hotel in Redondo Beach. The funds will also go toward an off-site project including a health facility, pharmacy, and public transit.
• the acquisition and rehabilitation of a 76-unit hotel steps from a transit station, within a half-mile of a grocery store, health facility, and pharmacy that will eventually include services like case management, benefits advocacy, payee services, medical, mental health, and substance abuse linkages
• converting the 44-unit Lyfe Inn to provide interim housing to homeless families in the Westlake District. Seven of the units will be accessible for those with mobility disabilities and five more for those with audio-visual disabilities.
• the conversion of a 40-room housing facility in Boyle Heights for youth at risk of homelessness that will eventually be named Dunamis House.
• the acquisition of a newly constructed 41-unit multifamily housing project at 6521 Brynhurst for permanent supportive housing.

Also in Los Angeles County, Culver City received a $26.6 million grant to acquire and rehabilitate two adjacent motels into 76 units of permanent and interim supportive housing.

The City of Redlands in San Bernardino County was awarded $30 million to rehab a 99-room hotel into a 98-room supportive housing residence, while Riverside County received $12 million to convert a 53-room hotel into a 52-room residence, where units will be subsidized by Section 8 vouchers.

Orange County also received a $6 million grant to acquire a motel and convert it into a 21-unit, permanent supportive housing project next door to The Tahiti, which was funded in the first round of Homekey funding.

"It's exciting to see so many good Homekey projects moving forward – projects that will ultimately create more than 600 units of quality housing to positively impact the lives of people across California," Gustavo Velasquez, director of the Department of Housing and Community Development, said in a statement.