State backs San Mateo County’s homelessness initiatives

On Wednesday, the state announced it would be distributing more than $105 million in Project Homekey grants, money intended to go toward the creation of new homes and spaces for those experiencing homelessness. 

San Mateo County will receive more than half of that funding with $55.3 million going toward a new navigation center and another $13.5 million covering the purchase of the Stone Villa Inn, a 44-room hotel in San Mateo. The navigation center, to be located in Redwood City, will bring 240 private units into the county using prefabricated modular structures, a community room and kitchen, outdoor space and wraparound services. 

On-site services will include intensive counseling, job readiness support and assistance relocating to more permanent housing. The county has tapped the nonprofit LifeMoves to operate the site given its long list of qualifications running other similar locations in and outside the county. 

The project has been estimated to cost roughly $50 million to construct which developer-turned-philanthropist John Sobrato recently helped pay down with a $5 million contribution. Millions in local dollars have also been set aside for the center but, with the state grant, the initial cost of developing the navigation center is fully funded with additional dollars left to cover various operation costs, Callagy said. 

“It really puts money into ongoing services too. That’s especially exciting because that’s how we transition people out of homelessness,” Callagy said. 

The most recent grants add to the $33 million of Project Homekey funding the state gave the county last year to help cover the purchase of two hotels to use as transitional and permanent housing for those living in or near homelessness. Since then, the county has purchased an additional hotel and is in the process of acquiring two more. 

Together, the hotels and navigation center are part of the county’s plan to achieve functional zero homelessness, meaning becoming homeless is rare, brief and never chronic, David Canepa, president of the Board of Supervisors, said in a press release. 

“This is a reflection of the state’s and county’s values,” Canepa said. “That if you make the commitment, you can send people who are homeless on a path toward stable lives by providing them with not just stable housing but also intensive support services such as job training, counseling and more.” 

According to the county’s 2019 One Day Homeless Count, roughly 1,512 people were experiencing homelessness, living in RVs or cars, on the streets or within shelters. Redwood City was home to the greatest number of homeless residents with 221 people. 

The city responded by developing a Safe RV Parking Program, again operated by LifeMoves, where residents living in their RVs could temporarily park their trucks while a more permanent housing solution was sought. Across from that site will be the location of the new navigation center at 1469 Maple St. 

County and city officials spent a year negotiating the terms of a land swap that helped bring the project to fruition after county officials dedicated a decade to finding a location. Through the swap, the county will get its navigation center while the city pursues an extension of Blomquist Street from Maple Street over Redwood Creek. 

“This critical funding puts the navigation center project on the fast track to create increased emergency housing access and critical safety-net services for our residents experiencing homelessness, which will reduce community impacts associated with homeless encampments in Redwood City and our county. It’s a great example of government collaboration on shared issues,” Redwood City Mayor Giselle Hale, a staunch proponent of the land swap and navigation center, said. 

Work to clean up the site has already begun with crews near ready to ship in soil that will raise the land, protecting the center from anticipated sea level rise. Callagy said the county is aiming to have the navigation center open by the end of next year. 

“While we were chipping away at this,” Callagy said. “[State funding] has allowed us exponential growth almost immediately which would have taken years and years to have achieved.”

sierra@smdailyjournal.com 

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