Santa Clara County has secured state funding for a Mountain View housing project aimed at serving homeless adults and youth.
On Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office awarded the county $16.7 million in Project Homekey funds for the conversion of the Crestview Hotel. Located on East El Camino Real, the county plans on turning the hotel into 48 units of housing. Residents are expected to move into the hotel within a year.
The county eventually plans to knock the hotel down and build a new facility that would create 120 units of affordable housing.
In November, the Board of Supervisors faced stiff pushback from residents in Mountain View who opposed the project and worried that it could lead to increased crime in the area.
Though the supervisors ended up going ahead with the housing plan, they promised that a “community impact report” would get drafted 18 months after residents move into the Mountain View location. In addition, yearly meetings will be held by the site’s management company so neighbors can voice their opinions.
Since Project Homekey’s launch last year, the governor has awarded close to $1 billion in funding for a total of 61 housing projects throughout the state. The governor’s initiative allows nonprofits, cities and counties to convert hotels and apartment buildings into housing for homeless residents throughout the state.
The announcement from the governor on Wednesday comes after the county was awarded an additional $22 million in Project Homekey funds in January. That money will go towards the conversion of the Bella Vista Inn on El Camino Real in Santa Clara into 67 units of interim housing for homeless residents. The project is set to finish in December.
Aside from the Mountain View and Santa Clara hotels, Santa Clara County has applied for Project Homekey funding for seven additional sites in San Jose and Palo Alto with the intent of creating 800 units of housing.
Wednesday’s announcement also included an additional $51.9 million in Project Homekey funds for over 150 units of housing in Orange, Placer, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz counties, as well as the city of Modesto.
Source: www.mercurynews.com