Santa Clara County Partners Seek Homekey Funding for 9 Deeply Affordable and Interim Housing Developments in 4 Cities
Public and Private Partners Will Seek State Funding to Quickly Produce More than 800 New Homes in the Next Nine Months
Santa Clara County, Calif. – Today, a group of public and private partners announced that they will be submitting nine proposals for State Project Homekey funding, which has the potential to spur the creation of more than 800 new deeply affordable and interim homes in our community in the next nine months.
Through this level of regional collaboration, the partners hope to optimize this unique funding opportunity to rapidly develop more permanent and interim housing options, which will be critical for progress towards the goals of the 2020-2025 Community Plan to End Homelessness. Since January 2020, our community has helped connect 4,886 homeless individuals to permanent housing and added 454 beds to our temporary housing and shelter inventory.
“Big problems require bold actions. To address the housing crisis, we must leverage partnerships and move quickly. No one entity can do this alone – progress is made when we work collaboratively,” said Mike Wasserman, President of the County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors. “I’m thrilled to see this line up of new proposals, which represents our collective mission to ensure stable, safe housing for our community.”
"Never before has the opportunity presented itself to utilize the confluence of funding, collaboration between local, state, and national leaders, and the urgency of our times to take decisive action to deliver rapid-build housing for our unhoused neighbors,” said San José Mayor Sam Liccardo. “Thanks to our partners, we continue to build on our progress to house even more people with Homekey funds and grow our needed stock of deeply affordable emergency housing for our unhoused neighbors.”
“We are committed to ensuring Santa Clara is a livable city for everyone. Through the collaborative leadership of our many partners, we will continue to help our unsheltered neighbors in our regional efforts to get our unhoused residents out of temporary shelters, off the streets, and into permanent homes,” said Santa Clara Mayor Lisa M. Gillmor.
“The City of Mountain View has shown how public/private partnerships can work to find solutions for our unstably housed residents in a streamlined way through our recent Project Homekey site which was completed in May 2021,” said Mountain View Mayor Ellen Kamei. “It is exciting that we as a region have another opportunity through the State to create even more housing for those who need it the most. Mountain View hopes to once again be part of the solution.”
"We are thankful for the funding from the State and County that will help us transition the unhoused into great housing with a full suite of services that really help individuals and families get back on their feet,” said Palo Alto Mayor Tom DuBois. “Palo Alto is leveraging all available resources to take immediate action."
The 2021-2022 State budget adopted earlier this summer allocated $2.75 billion to expand Project Homekey – a statewide program launched last year to purchase and rehabilitate buildings and convert them into permanent, long-term housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Since that time, the County of Santa Clara, the Santa Clara County Housing Authority, individual cities, affordable housing developers and other non-profit providers have been evaluating opportunities to leverage this new source of state funding to expand the supply of deeply affordable housing in our community.
As a result of these early discussions, our community will submit Homekey proposals in four different Santa Clara County cities, a key element of our collective efforts to expand new housing opportunities in every part of Santa Clara County. Among the local development proposals seeking Homekey funding are:
• Arena Hotel (San José): A partnership between the City of San José, Urban Housing Communities and HomeFirst to convert this 89-unit hotel located at 817 The Alameda into permanent housing.
• Bella Vista Inn (Santa Clara): Resources for Community Development (RCD) will serve as the co-applicant with the County of Santa Clara. The first phase will include the acquisition, minor renovation, and interim use of the existing motel at 3550 El Camino Real to provide up to 64 units of transitional housing. The second phase of the development (which is still under review and pending approval) would result in 120 permanent affordable and supportive housing units in the future.
• Crestview Hotel (Mountain View): The County of Santa Clara is working with the City of Mountain View to acquire and renovate the existing 67-unit hotel at 901 E. El Camino Real into permanent affordable and supportive housing units. The development consists of minor improvements to the exterior, interior improvements including adding kitchenettes to the units, and potentially combining units to accommodate larger families.
• Pacific Motor Inn (San José): A partnership between the City of San José and PATH Ventures to convert this 72-unit hotel on 455 S. 2nd Street into permanent housing.
• Pavilion Inn (San José): The City of San José, the Santa Clara County Housing Authority and the Bill Wilson Center will collaborate to convert this 61-unit hotel located at 1280 N. 4th Street into interim housing to serve our homeless youth.
• Residence Inn (San José): The City of San José and the Santa Clara County Housing Authority will collaborate on this project to convert the 150-unit hotel located at 6111 San Ignacio Avenue into permanent housing for homeless families.
• New Emergency Interim Housing Site (Palo Alto): LifeMoves will serve as the co-applicant with the City of Palo Alto to develop 88 emergency interim housing units. The site is located at 1237 San Antonio Road.
• New Emergency Interim Housing Site (Santa Clara): LifeMoves and the City of Santa Clara are exploring the development of an interim housing site that would accommodate up to 75 units. The site is located at 2035 White Oak Lane.
• New Emergency Interim Housing Site (San José): The City of San José and LifeMoves will develop a new 176-unit emergency interim housing development on a city-owned property at the intersection of Branham Lane & Monterey Road.
“Ending and preventing homelessness requires a collaborative and regional approach, locally-guided by the 2020-2025 Community Plan to End Homelessness,” said Consuelo Hernández, Director of the County of Santa Clara Office of Supportive Housing. “Building on the success of Homekey Round 1, the County has worked collaboratively with four cities to develop a set of proposals that will bring more deeply affordable and supportive housing in cities throughout Santa Clara County. Collectively, the proposals will address system gaps and further explore innovative ways of housing our unsheltered population.”
Cities in Santa Clara County were successful in securing four Homekey Awards in Round 1, resulting in the creation of 364 homes for homeless individuals and families.
"It's incredible how we can come together to generate higher leveraged outcomes," said Preston Prince, Executive Director at the Santa Clara County Housing Authority. "The Housing Authority is looking forward to continued partnership to create innovative housing solutions and get our unhoused community connected to affordable housing opportunities."
Development partners are in the process of preparing and submitting their applications to the State of California, as well as conducting ongoing community engagement. The State will open the application period on October 1, 2021.
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About the County of Santa Clara, California
The County of Santa Clara government serves a diverse, multi-cultural population of 1.9 million residents in Santa Clara County, California, making it more populous than 14 states in the U.S. The County provides essential services to its residents, including public health protection, environmental stewardship, medical services through the County of Santa Clara Health System, child and adult protection services, homelessness prevention and solutions, roads, park services, libraries, emergency response to disasters, protection of minority communities and those under threat, access to a fair criminal justice system, and many other public benefits.
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Media Contact: María Leticia Gómez/Quan Vu, County of Santa Clara Office of Communications and Public Affairs, (408) 299-5119, [email protected]; Jeff Scott, Public Information Manager, City of San Jose Housing Department, (408) 348-3651, [email protected]
Posted: September 30, 2021