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San Benito County is in the final stretch of completing a 16-unit housing development for homeless families, mostly funded by the state and located at the county-owned Migrant Center. Designed to help ease the county’s rising homeless crisis, the project is set to be completed and ready to be occupied in September.
Enrique Arreola, deputy director of the San Benito County Health & Human Services Agency, told BenitoLink that the county began planning the project four years ago. It will house up to 48 people and is the county’s first step in providing housing for very low income households, as called for by the Housing Element in the county’s General Plan.
“This is a great project because it really gets people out from homelessness into stable housing, permanent housing,” Arreola said. “It’s not only just getting them into housing, but it’s also giving them the support to remain housed.”
The development offers two types of housing. Five units are designated as transitional housing, where families can stay for up to a year. During this time, Arreola said, social workers and county staff will provide families support and assist them in finding permanent housing. These units were built with a $1.1 million grant from the Homeless Emergency Aid Program, administered by the California Interagency Council on Homelessness.
The remaining 11 units will provide permanent housing. They were funded by a $2.4 million grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s Homekey project. Through Homekey, California has built more than 15,000 homes.
Tenants in these units will pay rent based on their income and receive services to support their transition from homelessness.
Since the five transitional housing units were planned four years ago, they were counted in the county’s previous Housing Element. The 11 permanent housing units mark the first of the 246 units for very low income households that San Benito County must plan for over the next six years in unincorporated areas of the county.
To complete the project, the county contributed between $400,000 and $500,000 in matching funds, according to Arreola. Each unit will come equipped with a refrigerator, a washer and cable TV.
Arreola told BenitoLink that tenants will have access to a range of support services, including counseling, addiction treatment, job search assistance, financial literacy and tax preparation.
“We want this to be affordable and for them to remain housed and at the same time to receive the services they need,” he said.
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