The Half Moon Bay City Council approved up to $300,000 in funding for continued emergency housing for farmworker households displaced by the January 2023 mass shooting, which drew attention to unsafe and nonhabitable housing conditions in the area.
The emergency housing —which was approved for further funding at the City Council’s Jan. 16 meeting — is intended to be a stopgap measure until permanent low-income affordable housing at 880 Stone Pine Road can be built, which will create 46 new housing units for farmworkers.
The City Council also approved $47,897 in funding for the Stone Pine Cove affordable housing project’s upcoming California Environmental Quality Act at its Jan. 16 meeting. The money will go to SWCA Environmental Consultants to complete environmental studies necessary for the follow-up coastal development permit the project requires, according to a staff report.
In the wake of the shooting, probes uncovered squalid and unpermitted living situations for employees and their families. But funding for their current living situations will run out by April.
“Until permanent housing at Stone Pine Cove is developed and ready for occupancy, there is a gap in housing for the 19 displaced households beginning this March,” the staff report read. “All of the displaced farmworker households are considered Extremely and/or Very Low-Income. … Absent the proposed assistance and ultimate development of Stone Pine Cove, these individuals and households are at significant risk of homelessness and displacement.”
Ultimately, the city is seeking funding for at least a year’s worth of emergency housing, coming to $750,000, alongside another $250,000 for contingencies should construction or other delays occur at the Stone Pine Cove project, the staff report said.
Including the $300,000 from the city, around $550,000 of this $1 million goal has been raised — with contributions from the Grove Foundation, Latino Community Foundation and Coastside Hope, according to the staff report.
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