Antioch Set to Apply For State Homeless Funding, Spend $12.3 million in City Funds

On Tuesday, the Antioch City Council will decide whether or not to seek funding through the State of California Homekey Program for housing opportunities for homeless at the Executive Inn on E 18th Street in the City of Antioch.

According to the agenda, if approved and awarded funding, the city would pledge a 5-year commitment of $12.3 million dollars in local funding which would also deplete the reserves and budget stabilization fund in 2027.

At the City Council meeting on April 12, 2022, $5.7M in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds were allocated for a two-year Non-Congregate Bridge Housing pilot initiative. Reducing the initial lease term would enable the City to apply these funds to the Homekey interim housing model.

According to the Presentation by Focus Strategies, the first round of funding released in the Summer of 2021 was $600 million in Funding for the state of California. The second round was Fall of 2021 and included $1.45 billion funding. The third round of funding has been announced for October 2022 which is $2.2 billion in funding—approximately $1 billion remaining for projects that were submitted but not funded in the second round and for round three.

The Executive Inn is Competitive

• City conducted an objective evaluation of other potential sites
• The Executive Inn is a competitive site to receive Homekey funding if an application is submitted upon NOFA release (October 2022)
• It can be renovated and occupied within the Homekey timeframe
• The owners of the motel are willing to negotiate a sale in addition to a lease for the non-congregate bridge housing model
• The Bay Area has been allocated Homekey resources in the last two rounds

Editors Notes

• Under current proposal, city of Antioch would pay approximently $2.46 million per year for Executive Inn facility.
• Nov. 2021 – Thorpe announces $300k to be spent on Louie Rocha Emergency Housing Plan for Homeless.
• July 2020 – Thorpe announced his homeless housing proposal at the Executive Inn. At that time, he estimated the annual cost would be approximately $1 million for 32-rooms

During the February 2021 City Council Meeting, the City Council agreed to move forward with an RFP for Bridge Housing for Homeless. At that meeting, a report was provided by Jazmin Ridley, unhoused resident coordinator presented the item which outlined a timeline which include:

• October 2018 – Shelter Crisis declared pursuant to CA SB 850
• March 2019 – Council Hosted Homeless Encampment Taskforce Panel
• April 2019 – Homeless Encampment Ad-hoc Committee Formed
• August 2019 – City Council recommends Unhoused Resident Coordinator Position
• September 2019 – Unhoused Resident coordinator Position Classification Created
• February 2020 – Focus Strategies began work as Unhoused Resident Coordinator Consultant
• April 2020 – Transitional Housing Ad-hoc Committee formed
• May 2020 – Project Roomkey Program at Motel 6 opened
• May 2020 – RV Housing Opportunity Program (RP Released/no contract awarded)
• October 2020 – Motel Occupancy Agreement Program to Shelter Unhoused  Residents (RFP Released)
• October 2020 – Focus Strategies Study
• November 2020 – CDBG-CV3 Fund Recommendations and Substantial Agreement
• December 2020 – Unhoused Resident Coordinator Hired

City Council Agenda

• Date: Tuesday, April 26, 2022
  
• Time: 6:00 P.M. – Closed Session
  
• 7:00 P.M. – Regular Meeting
  
• Place: Council Chambers 200 ‘H’ Street Antioch, CA 94509
• Full Agenda: Click here