Bay Area communities get state grants to address homeless camps

California Governor Gavin Newsom awarded $22 million to nine Bay Area cities and counties to help them remove homeless camps and find housing for occupants, the latest step in the state’s multi-year plan to tackle its homeless crisis.

The money is part of the $50 million the state approved last year to fund so-called encampment resolution grants, which it doled out this week, according to the Mercury News. It will fund the clearing of encampments and reopening the sites to the public, as well as finding new homes. It’s projected to rehouse 1,400 camp residents, according to a release from the governor’s office.

“California is taking on the unacceptable status quo with a historic response to house thousands of our most vulnerable community members at an unprecedented rate, and swiftly addressing the encampments that pose the greatest threat to health and safety,” Newsom wrote in the release.

Such camps have gotten bigger in many Bay Area cities over the past two years partly due to a pause in abatement measures to avoid displacing unhoused residents during the pandemic, the Mercury News said. They’ve come to symbolize the state’s homeless crisis, often creating unsanitary and inhumane living conditions and becoming a nuisance to neighbors.

Faced with growing pressure to take action, Newsom allocated $12 billion last year to homeless housing and services and recently signed several new laws aimed at tackling the crisis, while also asking the public to have patience as California tries to keep more people off its streets.

The $50 million of grants is a fraction of the amount of money needed to make a significant difference. The governor’s latest budget proposal would set aside another $2 billion to address homelessness, most of which would go toward buying and building so-called tiny homes and other interim housing options. It’s part of a multi-year plan to create 55,000 new beds, which represents about a third of the state’s 2020 homeless population.

Of the Bay Area communities that received grants, the East Bay city of Richmond received the single largest one of $4.8 million. Richmond officials plan to put that toward clearing a camp of more than 100 people living in cars, RVs and trailers, and also intend to create a housing trust fund exclusively for that camp’s residents to help them find a stable place to live, the Mercury News said.

Berkeley and Oakland each received a $4.7 million grant. Other recipients include Santa Cruz and Marin counties, Redwood City, San Jose and San Rafael.

[The Mercury News] — Matthew Niksa

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