Thursday, March 31, 2022
Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft
We got the money! Last month I reported that Alameda applied for a $12.3 million Homekey grant from California’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). Good news: Our application was successful!
Residents often ask, “What is Alameda doing about homelessness?” These grant funds help answer that question. Alameda will use this money to construct Dignity Village, which includes 46 modular units of transitional supportive housing, and an additional unit for an onsite manager. Up to 61 homeless adults — individuals and couples — will have their own rooms with private bathrooms, and access to on-site “wraparound services.” These services include being connected to medical care, mental health services, and substance abuse treatment, help finding employment, and assistance securing and maintaining permanent housing.
Dignity Village, and similar projects, will also help to significantly reduce homelessness in the Bay Area. That’s because this transitional, or interim, housing is an important element of the All Home Regional Action Plan (RAP) to reduce unsheltered homelessness in the Bay Area by 75 percent by 2024, through creating permanent solutions, not temporary fixes.
Launched in April 2021 by All Home, a non-profit focused on reducing poverty and homelessness, RAP is based on a “1-2-4 framework.” Specifically, for every unit of interim housing, there should be simultaneous investment in two units of permanent housing, and four units of homelessness prevention programs. This formula is designed to provide permanent housing solutions for unsheltered individuals, while preventing others from becoming homeless. Visit allhomeca.org for more information.