The state of California has awarded $452 million to the city and county of Los Angeles that with matching funds will create 1,470 homes for homeless residents as part of its Project Homekey.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the Homekey grants for dozens of projects to convert hotels and apartments from Woodland Hills to Compton, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.
The $3.75 billion Homekey program, launched in 2020, has now funded more than 200 projects totaling 12,500 units of temporary and permanent homeless housing, including thousands of units across L.A. The state has also budgeted $15 billion since then to combat homelessness.
“Some people have given up on the prospect that we can ever solve this issue, and I want folks to know you shouldn’t give up,” Newsom said while visiting a recently completed Homekey project in Los Angeles, according to news reports. “I want folks to know we’re just getting started.”
The city of Los Angeles received $209 million from the second round of Project Homekey. Combined with $157 million in local matching funds, it will be able to acquire 750 permanent supportive housing units.
Add that to funds allocated earlier this year, and the second Homekey round will generate a total of 15 acquisitions accounting for 1,235 units, according to Urbanize.
When purchases from the first round of Project Homekey are factored in, the program has generated 1,467 new permanent supportive housing units at a total of 20 sites in the City of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles County received $243 million in the latest round of Project Homekey, allowing it to pick up 14 properties with 720 units in Boyle Heights, Compton, East Hollywood, Inglewood, Koreatown, Redondo Beach, Lancaster, San Pedro, Westlake, Woodland Hills and unincorporated areas.
They join 10 properties containing 847 units acquired in the first round of Project Homekey.
Those totals do not account for Project Homekey acquisitions by other cities, such as Culver City, which has acquired two hotels on Sepulveda Boulevard; and Long Beach, which was awarded $30.5 million from Homekey to create new interim housing.
— Dana Bartholomew