San Mateo County will receive nearly $70 million in state funding for a pair of housing projects for residents experiencing homelesness, California officials announced on Wednesday as part of the latest round of the Homekey program.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development granted San Mateo County $55.3 million to construct a 240-unit navigation center in Redwood City, and another $13.5 million to purchase and renovate a 44-unit hotel for temporary housing in San Mateo. County officials said in a press release on Wednesday the $68.8 million housing grant is the largest in county history.
"This is a reflection of the state's and County's values that if you make the commitment, you can send people who are homeless on a path toward stable lives if you provide them with intensive support services such as job training, counseling and more," San Mateo County Board of Supervisors President David Canepa said in a statement.
Canepa added the county could "achieve functional zero homelessness with the help of these two projects."
San Mateo County recorded more than 1,500 residents experiencing homelessness, including at least 900 who were without shelter, when it last counted unhoused residents in 2019. That was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its wide-ranging and still-ongoing economic impacts.
Federal data released on Tuesday showed housing costs in the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metropolitan statistical area – which includes San Mateo County – were 107.3% higher than the national average in 2019.
Redwood City, where 221 residents lacked shelter during the one-day count in 2019, will house the county’s first navigation center at 1469 Maple St. The center is scheduled to open in late 2022, and county officials said in a release it “will provide shelter, intensive care management and other supportive services.”
San Mateo County will buy, renovate and run the Stone Villa Inn in San Mateo. Seven of the 44 rooms will be Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant, and county officials said the hotel aims to provide transitory housing, services and skill-building "to help residents exit to permanent housing."
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