Almost $50M Given To East Bay Homeless Efforts

BAY AREA — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Saturday awarded nearly $149 million for 193 previously funded homeless assistance programs in the nine-county Bay Area.

The funds provided through HUD's Continuum of Care Program total $381 million for 694 local programs in California.

In the East Bay, Oakland/Berkeley/Alameda County received $33.5 million for 38 projects, and $15 million was given to Richmond and Contra Costa County for 19 projects.

San Francisco received $40.7 million for 53 homeless projects, and San Jose/Santa Clara City and County received $38.4 million for 27 projects.

Other Bay Area awards include $11.4 million to Daly City/San Mateo County for 15 projects; $4 million to Marin County for nine projects; $3.4 million to Santa Rosa/Petaluma/Sonoma County for 14 projects; $1.1 million to Vallejo/Solano County for 11 projects and $718,000 to Napa City and County for seven projects.

HUD's Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs awarded the funds immediately after the reopening of the federal government Friday.

Continuum of Care funding supports interventions to assist homeless individuals and families living in areas not meant for habitation or who are at imminent risk of becoming homeless.

The HUD state and local planning organizations known as Continuums of Care are most effective in meeting the needs of the homeless. HUD has called for a shift in funds from under-performing projects to new ones that are based on the best practices to prevent and end homelessness.

HUD serves more than a million people a year through emergency shelter, transitional and permanent housing programs, HUD's San Francisco Regional Office spokesman Eduardo Cabrera said.

In December, local communities reported homelessness in the country remained largely unchanged in 2018 with nearly 553,000 people enduring homelessness on a single night in 2018.

Wednesday, Alameda and Contra Costa counties will conduct their homeless counts.

The number of homeless veterans across the country fell 5.4 percent since January 2017 and by 49 percent since 2010, HUD officials said.

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— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock