Monterey Times

Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he has rejected all the submitted Homeless Action Plans received by counties, continuums of care, and large cities; and is holding Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention funds until he meets with communities later this month. The County of Monterey has already allocated the total $3,381,924.17 to programs that require these funds to sustain or expand much needed services in our community.             

“While I agree with Governor Newsom that we all can and must do better, including the state, why reject all local plans, even in those counties and cities that are making progress,” says Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo, who is also the Chair of the Monterey-San Benito County Continuum of Care. “Monterey County has had a reduction in homelessness by 20 percent and then 15 percent in the last two Point in Time Counts. We then receive less funding due to that reduction and for making progress. This must change.” 

Roxanne Wilson, Monterey County’s Homeless Services Director says this sweeping decision is particularly hard on communities which have shown substantial decreases in homelessness like Monterey County. 

“The County of Monterey has been aggressive in reducing homelessness for several years. Because of this work, our County has experienced a reduction of homelessness consistently since we peaked in 2017. Our goal is to reduce homelessness by 50% and that is exactly what we are working towards,” says Wilson. 

County actions to reduce homeless include:

• Selected as a pilot community for Whole Person Care
• Heavily investing into the operations of the local continuum of care
• Aligning County programs with Housing First
• Sponsoring and adopting the Lead Me Home 5 Year Plan to Reduce Homelessness by 50%
• Opening the county’s largest housing navigation center in partnership with the City of Salinas
• Financially supporting the Cities of Salinas and King on their Homekey projects
• Launching the first county-wide mobile case management team
• Continuing to invest in Project Roomkey utilizing American Rescue Plan funds

The County will continue to advocate for aggressive, meaningful, and impactful delivery of services and will work with the State to reconcile any issues they may have with our submission to ensure there will be no gaps in service delivery.

Original source can be found here.