Sacramento, seven other CA counties to receive $145.4 million in state homeless funds
Eight communities across California including Sacramento will receive almost $150 million to move homeless people into housing, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday.
Sacramento, Solano, Yuba, Yolo, Santa Clara, Lake, Orange and Riverside counties will receive $145.4 million in the most recent round of funding under the state Homelessness Housing, Assistance and Prevention program.
The latest tranche of funding, the sixth since the program started in 2019, is aimed at moving people off the street and connecting them with support services and into both permanent and interim housing.
The city of Sacramento and Sacramento County and their joint Continuum of Care program are set to receive $31.7 million for prevention and diversion to support people at risk of homelessness and to fund existing emergency and interim shelters.
Solano County will receive $4.1 million, Yolo County will receive $2.2 million, and Yuba County will receive $600,000.
Newsom touted a supposed 9% drop in unsheltered homelessness — a dubious statistic that is based on a mix of old federal data and the administration’s internal numbers — when announcing the reward Wednesday.
“We’re making critical investments through programs to help local communities expand housing, strengthen services, and better support people experiencing homelessness,” he said in a statement. “But just investing money is not enough — we have to invest in programs and local governments that are producing real results.”
In the seven years since its launch, the state homeless program has provided billions of dollars to communities across the state to address California’s stubbornly persistent housing and homeless problem.
The Newsom administration has proposed allocating $500 million for it in the next fiscal year, but mayors across the state have asked for that to be doubled in the upcoming final budget, which legislators will pass in late June.
