The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) announced awards totaling $302 million from the No Place Like Home program. Enacted in 2016, No Place Like Home dedicates up to $2 billion in bond funds to build permanent housing with supportive services for Californians who live with severe mental illness and are experiencing homelessness, chronic homelessness, or are at-risk of chronic homelessness. The bonds will be repaid by funding from California’s Mental Health Services Act. The second round of competitive No Place Like Home program funding availability will be slated to be announced in fall 2019.
HCD also announced awards totaling $11 million from the federal Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) program. These awards will be used to address homelessness throughout California, using a comprehensive, multipronged approach. The award recipients will use the grants to help individuals and families avoid homelessness; quickly get back into housing (“rapid rehousing”) if they experience homelessness; conduct outreach and connect people at-risk of or experiencing homelessness to services and temporary or permanent housing. The next round of Emergency Solutions Grants is expected to be available in Spring 2019.
