Home Contra Costa County Contra Costa Announces Care Center Plan to Help Residents Transition from Homelessness

Contra Costa Announces Care Center Plan to Help Residents Transition from Homelessness

by ECT

A 174-room motel in Pittsburg now sheltering homeless Contra Costa residents at high risk from COVID-19 will become a permanent service hub to help county residents transition into stable living situations, thanks to a $21.5 million state grant.

Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) rented rooms at the Motel 6 at 2101 Loveridge Road in to provide temporary housing through the state’s Project Roomkey program, which funded hotel rooms for residents who could not effectively isolate themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic because they had lost their housing.

Homekey, the state’s follow-up program, will commit $17.4 million toward the purchase and renovation of the property by the county, and another $4.17 million toward staffing and operating the former motel as temporary housing for county residents experiencing homelessness, with on-site healthcare and behavioral health services, meals and assistance connecting with the services they need to regain housing.

“We are proud to partner with California in our work to provide safe, sustainable services for vulnerable members of our community,” said Candace Andersen, chair of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors.

There were only 20 shelter beds available in East County for more than 500 people living outside there in January 2020, most in Antioch and Pittsburg. The county’s most recent homeless point-in-time count showed that 33 percent of residents living outside in Contra Costa were in East County, compared to 27 percent recorded there during the 2019 count.

CCHS will add the new East County CARE Center and interim housing program to its network of homeless service centers, shelters and outreach programs, helping to address an acute shortage of those services in the area.

“This is a great start toward the building services and resources East County needs to address homelessness,” said Contra Costa Supervisor Federal Glover, whose district includes the site. “There is a critical need for this project in our community.”

The grant includes funding for case management, housing navigation services, meals and a robust peer support program, among other services.

“The funding allows us to accelerate our efforts to provide shelter for people living without housing in the eastern region of our county,” said Lavonna Martin, CCHS’s Director of Heath, Housing and Homeless Services. “This project creates a new interim housing option that allows for a greater degree of privacy and flexibility in household configurations we can serve, with the critical services and supports they need to regain permanent housing.”

Motel 6 was one of four in Contra Costa contracted to shelter vulnerable residents who had no housing early in the COVID-19 pandemic, partially funded by California’s Project Roomkey. CCHS is now renting 494 rooms at these motels to house people experiencing homelessness, including more than 200 people at Motel 6 who will continue to receive services and progress toward self-sufficiency under Homekey.

Visit cchealth.org/h3 for recent data about homelessness in Contra Costa County. Annual point-in-time count information is available in the Data Reports section.

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4 comments

Fusioner Sep 16, 2020 - 2:12 pm

Now, where does the state get this money to use to buy a rathole for $21 million? One guess!

aw ahucks Sep 16, 2020 - 4:54 pm

GREAT drag pittsburg down even more. I am a psychotherapist and get tired of the rehtoric around gicing mental health care. YES its very helpful BUT only if people are ready to do the hard work to change. Some are ready, many are not and we will lose money throwing services at people who do not want to benfit fron them. Plus that motel should have been torn down a decade a go.

Judy Nelson Sep 16, 2020 - 9:54 pm

That model has always been an eyesore and usually full of sketchy characters wandering around. It’s too close to where normal people shop or eat (Walmart, other stores, IHOP, etc.). All we need is getting accosted by these crazy weirdos.

Becka Sep 17, 2020 - 1:32 pm

Since California has this nice comfy blanket of money thanks to us taxpayers why don’t u come up with a stimulous for the people who live here. Clearly our country cud give 2 fucks about its people. So since California has all this money to hand out why don’t u shoot it to the people u fucked over and now have next to no income.

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