Nonprofit organization with Monterey County Office of Ed to help homeless students

MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV): A non-profit Central Coast organization partnered with Monterey Office of Education to help qualifying homeless families with a deposit for housing.

The Housing for Kids Fund of the Community Foundation for Monterey County is trying to help youth homelessness in Monterey County​. According to the Monterey County Office of Education, almost 13,000 students in Kindergarten through 12th grade were experiencing homelessness in the 2023-2024 school year.

People in the community started to do something about the problem.

"A group of individuals living in our local community that cared deeply about the issue of homelessness, specifically, homelessness impacting our local youth," said Cecilia Romero, Director of Gift Planning of the Community Foundation for Monterey County. "They decided not only to have discussions about the issue, but also to do something about it."

The fund is $50,000 and the fund will help pay for a part-time worker to manage the program. It will also provide qualifying families with money for a deposit for rent, or help pay if their rent is behind.

In order for a family to qualify, they would need at least one child attending a public school. Then, the Monterey County Office of Education will evaluate the situation of the family to ensure that they are positioned to be successful to do on-gong payments.

The rental assistance is provided one time at the beginning of their rental contract and the payment is made to the landlord, not the family.

"This effort will be extremely useful for our local community," said Romero.

The fund is temporary to help families with rental assistance, but ​the Community Foundation for Monterey County said the individuals who created this fund wanted to keep helping youth.

"I know their end goal is to continue working as long as possible," said Romero.

The program could start as early as November.