San Mateo County leaders announced a local strategy Friday to bolster the safety net for the county's most vulnerable residents with $4 million a year to prevent evictions.
“We will end homelessness in San Mateo County,” county executive director Mike Callagy told an audience of more than 300 people during the “Our Year of Working Together to End Homelessness” summit in Millbrae.
The first local summit of its kind brought together county leaders, peninsula cities, business and nonprofit groups, and advocacy organizations to address an issue that has vexed officials from Sacramento to Washington, DC.
“We know that the best way to end homelessness is to prevent homelessness in the first place,” Callagy explained. “The county will provide vouchers that will help keep 100 formerly homeless individuals and families in their permanent homes. This is the first time I know of that a county has undertaken a local voucher program like this."
For his part, the county supervisor, Dave Pine, also announced that the Board of Supervisors has appropriated an additional $54.6 million to build 1,000 units of affordable housing.
“The ultimate goal is always to move our unsheltered residents into stable, permanent housing here in one of the most expensive housing markets in America,” Pine stressed.
About the San Mateo County Housing Voucher Program, Callagy said the program will launch in 2023 with an initial $4 million already approved by the Board of Supervisors. The funds will fill the gap between the rent paid by formerly homeless and extremely low-income families and the actual rent to prevent evictions.
key numbers
262: The number of additional unsheltered residents contacted by outreach workers this month compared to October 2021
91 percent: the increase in temporary shelter beds by 2023 compared to 2019
733: Households that were previously homeless have moved into permanent housing since October 2021
Callagy also announced that the first Navigation Center ?refuge? The county will open in 2023, creating an additional 240 beds for people who were previously homeless as they transition to permanent housing.
In turn, he stressed that the shelter will also provide full-time medical care, thanks in large part to private donations.
Results from a February 2022 one-day count of the homeless population in San Mateo County showed that 1,092 people were homeless and 56 percent of them were sleeping in a car or RV.
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