Oakland won $14.8 million in state funding Wednesday to turn a hotel into much-needed homeless housing, as Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office continues to award grants through its Homekey program.
The money will allow the city to buy and rehabilitate the Piedmont Place hotel, transforming it into 44 studios apartments, one two-bedroom unit and one studio unit for a property manager. The units will provide housing for people who have been homeless a long time, or are homeless and struggling with medical conditions that make it difficult for them to work.
“Homekey is providing thousands of individuals with the supportive services they need and a safe place to call home,” Newsom wrote in a Wednesday news release announcing the award. “We are continuing to act with urgency to fund quality Homekey projects, because that’s exactly what the moment demands – swift, decisive action to assist the most vulnerable Californians.”
The governor also announced a $7.48 million award that will allow San Francisco to buy the 25-room Eula Hotel on 16th Street and turn it into housing for homeless young people. Anaheim, Los Angeles, Merced and Modesto were among the other cities that received grants this week. The governor doled out a total of $136.6 million for 10 projects.
The Homekey program launched in 2020 to help cities, counties and nonprofits buy hotels, apartments, dorms and other buildings and convert them into homeless housing. Some recipients also used the awards to build modular housing units. The program handed out $846 million in its first year, and created 6,029 units of housing throughout the state.
Calling the first round a success, Newsom drastically expanded the program late last year. He poured another $2.75 billion into Homekey — with $1.45 billion available this year. About $200 million of that initial allocation is reserved for the Bay Area.
In Oakland’s Piedmont Place project, five of the units will have full kitchens, and 40 will have small kitchenettes with sinks, microwaves and refrigerators. The property will include space for counseling, a community room and a dining hall.
Additional Homekey funds will be awarded in the coming weeks, according to the governor’s office.
“As we have seen time and time again, Homekey demonstrates that homelessness is a solvable issue,” California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency Secretary Lourdes Castro Ramírez wrote in the news release. “Communities across the state, like those represented in this round of awards, are rapidly mobilizing Homekey resources to acquire and convert hotels, offices and empty lots into permanent affordable housing with supports to ensure the success of individuals and families exiting homelessness.”
