More than $4 million in Project Homekey funds will be awarded to the city of Riverside for acquisition of housing and safety net services for homeless youth, it was announced Wednesday.
“The city’s commitment to reducing homelessness focuses on preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place,” Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said. “We know young people, particularly foster youth, are vulnerable and at high risk of becoming homeless, which is why these funds are so critical to our overall strategy of addressing homelessness.”
The $4.37 million allocation is part of a $156 million statewide funding distribution announced Tuesday by the governor’s office.
Project Homekey, which was initiated during the COVID lockdowns, is a spinoff of Project Roomkey, which was intended to reduce congregate shelters in preference to rooms or other individualized settings where the risks of transmitting contagions is less.
The city will use the funds to procure up to five homes, containing 25 units or rooms, for the placement of area residents who are 18 to 21 years old and dispossessed or at risk of homelessness, according to municipal officials.
Among those who will be eligible for assistance are foster and former foster youths, along with parenting or pregnant girls and young women.
The city is partnering with Riverside-based Walden Family Services for the “Housing for Transitional Youth Project.”
The effort will bundle housing opportunities with educational counseling, job training and life skills coaching, officials said.
“We know from experience that pairing services with shelter is the recipe for success in helping people get off the streets,” Councilwoman Erin Edwards said. “This is especially true of young people, who can avoid becoming homeless altogether if they have the right housing and guidance at this crucial point in their lives.”
The California Department of Housing & Community Development is providing the funds. Statewide, outlays will cover a dozen projects in six counties, for the creation of 556 affordable housing opportunities, according to the agency.