City Government

Newsom Signs $12 Billion Funding Package to Support Housing for Homeless Residents

In addition to the $12 billion funding package for homelessness, the state also plans to spend $10.3 billion on developing affordable housing units.

Published

4 years ago

July 21, 2021

Isabelle Price

One of the tents from the homeless encampment under the Guadalupe Freeway, adjacent to a newly constructed building near San Jose Diridon Station, in San Jose on May 25, 2021. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News)

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a $12 billion funding package for housing and homelessness on July 19, the largest such investment in sheltering and supporting homeless residents in the state’s history.

The funding, which will be used over the next two years, will support efforts across the state to spur housing construction and the expansion of mental health services at the local level.

The state will use $5.8 billion of the funding to convert more than 42,000 hotel and motel rooms into housing units specifically for homeless residents and people struggling with severe mental health conditions.

The state launched the hotel room conversion program, known as Homekey, last year in a partnership with the federal government that enabled the state to reimburse the costs of acquiring hotel and motel properties.

Speaking at a Homekey site in Sebastopol, Newsom acknowledged that the state’s strategies in recent years to help homeless residents get off the streets have been failures.

“The state of California, with all due respect, has been nowhere to be found on the issue of homelessness for far too long,” he said.

Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore said state and local governments have played “whack-a-mole” with homelessness over the last three decades with little to show for it.

“We have never encountered such an issue as homelessness, where everybody wants it fixed but nobody wants to be inconvenienced by the solution,” he said.

In addition to the $12 billion funding package for homelessness, the state also plans to spend $10.3 billion on developing affordable housing units.

Newsom said that the state plans to be more proactive in tying funding to whether local governments are actively housing homeless residents rather than simply throwing money at the problem.

“There’s six metrics that counties have to meet, and if you meet them we’re actually attaching bonuses, an 18% bonus opportunity, for actually delivering on the plan,” he said. “No plan, no money.”

Roughly $2 billion of the funding package will be paid to local governments through Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention grants, which have specific accountability measures that grant recipients must meet.

Since being elected in 2018, Newsom has frequently reiterated his intent to spur more housing development and, in turn, help homeless residents get off the streets.

Last year, just a month before the state shut down in March due to the pandemic, Newsom even went so far as to devote his entire State of the State address to issues of housing and homelessness.

In that time, however, the state’s revenue used to tackle issues like homelessness has fluctuated wildly, from a projected $54.3 billion deficit last spring to a surplus of nearly $80 billion earlier this year.

But while the funding package Newsom approved on July 19 is only a one-time expenditure, the governor said he plans to forge ahead with spending on housing and homelessness in future years.

“So long as I’m governor of California, that’s not going to be an issue,” he said.

Isabelle Price

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Oakland Post: July 21st -July 27th, 2021

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

4 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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IN MEMORIAM: Nate Holden, State Senator and Longtime Los Angeles Councilmember, Dies at 95

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described Holden as “a lion” in the State Senate and a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles City Council.” Hahn added that she learned a lot working with Holden when she was a new councilmember.

Published

1 week ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Former Los Angeles Councilmember and California State Sen. Nate Holden. File photo.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Nathaniel “Nate” Holden, a prominent figure in the city’s politics, passed away at the age of 95, his family confirmed on May 7.

Holden, who represented South Los Angeles for 16 years on the City Council and served one term in the California State Senate, was widely regarded as a forceful advocate for his community.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described Holden as “a lion” in the State Senate and a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles City Council.”

Hahn added that she learned a lot working with Holden when she was a new councilmember.

Holden’s journey to political prominence began in the segregated South, where he was born in Macon, Georgia, in 1929. He often recalled the childhood moment when he first heard the governor of Georgia vowing to continue suppressing Black people.

“Doing the best you can for the people. Law and order. Make sure that people’s communities are safe. I did it all,” said Holden, reflecting on his legacy.

Holden is survived by his sons, including former California Assemblymember Chris Holden, who represented a district in Southern California that includes Pasadena and Altadena in Los Angeles County and cities in San Bernardino County.

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Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

1 week ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.