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Berkeley awarded $16M to convert hotel into homeless housing

Project Homekey to grant funds to redevelop 44-room Golden Bear Hotel

Governor Gavin Newsom with the Golden Bear Hotel at 1620 San Pablo Avenue (Getty, Google Maps)
Governor Gavin Newsom with the Golden Bear Hotel at 1620 San Pablo Avenue (Getty, Google Maps)

The City of Berkeley has been awarded $16.2 million from the state’s Project Homekey to convert the Golden Bear Hotel into permanent homes for dozens of unhoused residents.

The East Bay city was given the grant to turn the 44-room hotel at 1620 San Pablo Ave.in Northwest Berkeley into supportive housing studios, including a unit for a property manager, the East Bay Times reported.

The newly renovated Golden Bear Hotel, SureStay Collection by Best Western, will be bought by the city, supported by $8.4 million in funds from Measure O, a bond city voters approved in 2018 to develop affordable housing.

In addition to studio apartments, the project will feature space for counseling, a community room and a dining hall. A grocery store, healthcare facility, library, pharmacy and public transit are all located within a half-mile of the site.

The hotel grounds currently host a Mountain Mike’s pizzeria.

“We know that permanent supportive housing is the evidence-based solution to homelessness in our community,” Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani, who represents northwest Berkeley, said in a statement.

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According to the 2019 point-in-time count, 1,108 unhoused people lived in Berkeley that year — a 14 percent increase from 2017.

Project Homekey began last year with the goal of helping cities, counties and nonprofits buy hotels, apartments and other buildings to turn them into housing for people without homes.

In 2020, the program granted $846 million to create more than 6,000 units. Gov. Gavin Newsom has committed another $2.75 billion, $1.45 billion of which will be granted in 2022.
On Wednesday, Newsom awarded $70 million toHomekey projects, including the Golden Bear.

“Homekey is proof that we can solve homelessness,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’ve swiftly created safer places to live for thousands of unhoused individuals throughout the last two years and today’s awards continue that progress.”

[EBT] — Dana Bartholomew

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Bay AreaBerkeleyCommercial Real EstateEast BayHomeless HousingProject Homekey