San Francisco Receives Over $8 Million New Project Homekey Grant From the State to Support Housing for Formerly Homeless Young Adults

San Francisco, CA - Today, Mayor London N. Breed announced that the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HUD) awarded San Francisco its eighth Project Homekey grant, providing more support for San Francisco's expansion of housing for the formerly homeless.

San Francisco's Five-year Strategic Homelessness Plan, Home by the Bay sets a goal of cutting unsheltered homelessness in half over the next five years. San Francisco has expanded its housing for the formerly homeless by over 50% since 2018, and now has the most permanent supportive housing of any county in the Bay Area. The City has the second most housing units per capita of any city in the country after Washington D.C.

This most recent State Homekey grant will deliver $8.2 million in capital and operating funds to help support the City purchase the 24-unit property at 42 Otis Street to operate as permanent supportive housing for young people exiting homelessness. With this support, Project Homekey has helped with the addition of 897 new homes for the formerly homeless in San Francisco.

"When all levels of government work together, from federal to state to local, we can make a difference for those living on our streets," said Mayor London Breed. "Project Homekey continues to provide a critical infusion of money to help us expand our housing options, and in this case, is supporting helping us in our work to break the cycle of homelessness for young people and get them on the right path."

"We are thrilled to receive this funding from the State Homekey program to support our efforts to address homelessness in our community," said San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing executive director, Shireen McSpadden. "The 42 Otis Street project will provide much-needed housing and support for vulnerable young adults who are experiencing homelessness, giving them resources they need to rebuild their lives."

"Five Keys is once again proud to partner with HSH, with the support of Homekey funding, to provide crucial housing solutions for the city's transitional-aged youth and other vulnerable populations," said Steve Good, president and CEO of Five Keys.

Casa Calibri, a similar project for young people was recently welcomed into the Excelsior Neighborhood in District 11.

"We wanted to help young people struggling to end their homelessness," said Steven Depont-Kalani, Chair of the Casa Calibri Committee Advisory Board and neighbor to the Casa Calibri site. "I would encourage other communities to have an open mind and heart in welcoming these young people to their neighborhood."

Governor Gavin Newsom launched Project Homekey in 2020 as an innovative strategy for addressing homelessness by providing local jurisdictions with critical funding to convert a broad range of housing types into permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness. This most recent Project Homekey award is the eighth given to San Francisco since the program started four years ago. In total, San Francisco has been awarded $239 million in Homekey Grants to expand permanent supportive housing by 897 units for adults, families, and young adults across ten properties.

Progress on Youth Homelessness: 9% decrease in unsheltered youth homelessness since 2022

Mayor Breed's homelessness response has prioritized increasing shelter, housing, and services for young adults experiencing homelessness. This includes:

• Adding housing dedicated for youth at Casa Esperanza, the Mission Inn, and 1174 Folsom.
• Expanding access points designed to engage and connect youth experiencing homelessness to resources.
• Opening the Lower Polk Youth Navigation Center to offer shelter and services
• Adding dedicated rental subsidies for youth.

These investments are making an impact in our community; the 2024 Point in Time Count saw a 9% decrease in the number of young people under the age of 24 experiencing unsheltered homelessness compared to 2022.

The City's FY 24-26 budget continues to build on this progress through critical investments in new and continuing programming and services for young adults, including:

• $24.5 million for 235 rapid rehousing subsidies, including 60 subsidies for youth exiting transitional housing and 15 subsidies for youth affected by violence.
• $3 million over two years ($1.5 million in annualongoing funding) for 50 permanent flexible housing subsidies or housing ladder subsidies for young adults.
• $5 million to acquire a new housing site for justice-involved youth to support the Just Home Project, an initiative led by the MacArthur Foundation and Urban Institute focused on breaking the cycle of housing instability and incarceration.

To date, HSH and City partners have purchased the following properties through with support from Project Homekey:

• City Gardens (200 units)
• Eula Hotel / Casa Esperanza (25 units)
• Granada Hotel (232 units)
• Hotel Diva (130 units)
• Mission Inn (52 units)
• 685 Ellis Street (74 units)
• The Margot (1321 Mission Street) (160 units)
• 42 Otis (24 units)

For more information on San Francisco's five-year strategic strategy to address homelessness, please visit this link.

###

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.