SACRAMENTO – California has awarded $100 million in emergency grant funding to California counties, Continuums of Care, and the state’s 13 largest cities to help protect the health and safety of people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On March 17, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 89, which was approved unanimously by the state Legislature. SB 89 authorized a total appropriation of up to $1 billion to provide assistance to help fight the spread of COVID-19. On March 18, 2020, Governor Newsom’s Administration allocated $100 million in emergency funding from SB 89 to local governments to help protect this vulnerable population and reduce the spread of COVID-19 by safely getting individuals into shelter and providing immediate housing options.
The Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency’s Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council sent out award letters today.
“The fast action by the legislature in approving this funding has been matched by the swift action taken by our Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to get this money out the door and to the local jurisdictions where it’s needed,” said Governor Newsom. “This is money that will be immediately available to help those who are homeless – among the most vulnerable to COVID-19.”
California’s 13 largest cities, or cities that are also a county, will receive $42,968,750, while the state’s 58 counties will receive $27,343,750 and California’s 44 Continuums of Care will receive $29,687,500. Allocations can be found here.
The funding is intended for measures to help prevent and contain COVID-19 and can be used for medically indicated services and supplies, such as testing and hand-washing stations. It can also be used for such things as acquiring new shelters, supplies and equipment for emergency shelter operations, increasing shelter capacity, street outreach, and acquiring locations to place individuals who need to be isolated because of COVID-19 illness or exposure.
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The Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency oversees Departments, Boards and Commissions whose mission is to protect consumers by licensing and regulating California professionals and businesses; preserve, expand and fund safe and affordable housing opportunities; and protect the civil rights of all Californians.
Dear Persons,
The reason that I am writing this is that Covid-19 isn’t the only disaster that I have dealing with, as we had a fire in our home at the end of 2017. Our insurance company paid out all the money to a 3rd party company to fix our home, but what wasn’t understood was the cost of labor and how that reduces the money that you get by 1/2??
When the insurance money ran out so did our 3rd party construction company because we didnt have $85,000 of our own money to give them.
We were unable to stay on the property before Covid, but since the shelter in place orders came last year, we have been back to the property since Feb. 2020.
The house has the 4 outside walls, roof, and framing that wasn’t affected by the fire. The fire was contained to a bedroom, which was a blessing and what wasn’t destroyed by the fire?? Smoke damaged from the fire, and the water to put the fire out completely ruined every possession that occupied the interior of our home.
Because of this we were living in hotels, buying food in restaurants, washing clothes at laundry mats, commuting to areas where we felt safe, as our lives were displaced then and now??
Coming back to the property was hard and we needed to adjust to staying here, sleeping in the cold on a mattress placed on the floor in a area of the house that we might be able to heat with a portable electric heater. During the summertime its alot warmer. I cook using a microwave, electric skillet, and we have a little 2×2 refrigerator to hold some essentials.
My mom had heart issues this last year, and had a couple procedures (invasive)to correct her irregular heart rate. After that her condition required her to strictly quarantine and take care of herself?? Respectfully I wasn’t able to go to my moms house and take a shower anymore or pick up my mail, as I had been accustomed to doing.
Bucket baths is my new way of getting cleaned up and I cry almost everytime because it’s very challenging to keep or get the water warm. So it takes me alot longer to get cleaned up. We dont have walls, insulation, lights, a bathroom, a kitchen, or a heater??
This is my boyfriends property and he is a disabled man that can do some of the work, but with limited resources available to us because this shut down. I have continued to reach out to different organizations for grant money to assist us in getting our home back, as it seems we are already living in an time that offers us many situations that require money to engage.
Although my friend is a disabled man he is more then capable of putting the house back together, we are at a stand still because of some of the requirements need to finish or rebuilding a home requires inspectors, permits, codes and guidelines, and they havent decreased or lowered any cost to us?? Actually when we had money to reup our permits, we went to the county building department they were not letting the public in the building. We waited down stair so that a county worker would come out and talk with us, but they didnt come down, so we called, and left a message several times. We still haven’t recieved any return call from them and we can not finish this house without a couple of things in place. Hard electric, and plumbing signed off by the county. The sprinkler system needs a pressure regulator valve , and a water storage tank(min of 5000 gal) because of living in a rural area.
PG and E needs $1500 to hook up our power to the weather head on house, and after we get over these obstacles it should be fairly easy to reside here comfortable, and we will be a resident here instead of transient in our own community. Please any direction to request some assistance with financing some of these bigger projects would be greatly appreciated, and thank you for your time and attention in reading this letter.
Sincerely,