Beleaguered Project Homekey Credited With Local Success

Melissa Montalvo reports on the local impacts in Fresno of a state program to convert unused hotel units into housing units for people experiencing homelessness during the pandemic:

State-funding efforts to shelter unhoused residents in converted motels could be a game-changer for Motel Drive, an area of Fresno that city leaders say has long been overrun by drugs, human trafficking, and prostitution.

Specifically,

Local city leaders say Project Homekey has been a success in Fresno, providing shelter for about 1,500 people over the past 18 months. Not only have the funds helped shelter the city’s unhoused residents, but they also provided the opportunity to invest in the transformation of Motel Drive, said Councilmember Miguel Arias in an interview with The Bee.

Councilmember Arias goes on to explain that Project Homekey gave Fresno the resources needed to clean up the corridor. The city used $35 million allotted by Project Homekey to buy four motels on the corridor. Funding from the Federal CARES Act provided resources for additional acquisitions.

More details about the facilities and services enabled by the state and federal funding are included in the source article. The article comes with the caveat that the programs are still inadequate to the task of mitigating the ongoing affordable housing crisis, both in Fresno and the rest of the state and nation.