Gov. Newsom gives $36 million for new homeless housing on Central Coast and San Jose

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KION-TV)- Governor Gavin Newsom announced he has signed off on the final Homekey awards for 2022. Five California counties will receive a total of $36 million in funding for projects aimed at helping with homelessness.

San Benito and Santa Cruz County each received upwards of $2 million for building new structures to aid people experiencing homelessness. The lion's share was given to the city of San Jose and the Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo.

The breakdown of funds goes as follows:

• The Housing Authority of the City of San Luis Obispo will receive $11.6 million to acquire and convert a 68-unit hotel into 40 permanent apartment homes and two manager units.
• The City of San Jose will receive $19.9 million to acquire a 72-room motel in downtown San Jose to provide interim housing for two years to individuals experiencing homelessness and will then be redeveloped into 72 permanent supportive homes.
• The County of San Benito will receive $2.4 million to purchase 11 factory-built homes. These homes will include two two-bedroom and nine four-bedroom units serving chronically homeless households with supportive services.
• The County of Santa Cruz will receive $2.2 million to serve individuals experiencing homelessness within a former commercial structure. The seven-unit adaptive reuse project (most recently used as a medical office building) will have two studios and five one-bedroom units and is in the City of Santa Cruz, close to services.

Homekey has awarded $2.753 billion to create 12,676 units across California. 

“The success of Homekey proves what is possible when you are willing to challenge the status quo and try a new, outside of the box approach,” said Governor Newsom. “In just a little over two years since its inception, Homekey has given thousands of Californians a place to call home.”

The new batch of funding is expected in early 2023.