CENTRAL VALLEY – Two cities in the Valley who are both working to help individuals living in encampments find permanent housing have just received a collective $21 million toward their efforts.
On June 14 Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the release of $199 million for Encampment Resolution Funding (ERF) to help cities move individuals experiencing homelessness in encampments into housing. The release of this funding is good news for the city of Fresno who received $17 million to serve 1,300 individuals.
“We’re doubling down on our investment to ensure that thousands of individuals in communities up and down the state move out of encampments and into housing where they can get the services and help they need,” Newsom said via news release.
On the other side of the Valley, the city of Tulare received $4.8 million to help around 170 individuals in their encampment location. The Governor said in a press release that they know they need to do more than simply clean up encampments.
“It’s not enough to simply clean up encampments,” Newsom said. “My administration will continue to work with local leaders and community members as they serve their unhoused neighbors and remove dangerous and unsightly encampments throughout California.”
California’s additional award of almost $200 million is to help 7,300 individuals in encampments move off the streets and into housing. The grants will go to 23 projects in 22 communities statewide with more than half of the projects resolving encampments along state rights-of-way according to the press release. This announcement of $199 million is the third, and largest, ERF round of grants to be distributed. Previously, 26 communities were awarded $96 million from the fund over two rounds.
ERF is administered by the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency (BCSH) and the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH). It was designed by Governor Newsom and the Legislature to provide communities of all sizes with the funding to move people living in encampments into housing. In total, the Administration has proposed providing $750 million to support 10,000 individuals living in dangerous conditions on our streets without shelter.
“The solution to ending homelessness is housing,” BCSH secretary Lourdes Castro Ramírez said. “The state congratulates and proudly supports these 22 communities for pulling together strong local partnerships that will lead people living in encampments into stable housing with support.”
The city of Fresno did not respond by press time.
