Sen. Patricia Bates, R-Laguna Niguel, announced Wednesday that the California Department of Housing and Community Development has awarded $433,775 in funding to San Diego and Orange counties to help house young adults who are at-risk of becoming homeless.
San Diego County's Child Welfare Services received $212,565 of that total, while Orange County's Social Services Agency received the other $221,210.
Funding for the state grants comes from the Housing Navigators Program funded by the 2019-20 California state budget. The grants are part of a total allocation of $4,786,985 in program funds to California's counties.
"I appreciate the efforts of the California Department of Housing and Community Development to ensure every region receives its fair share of state resources to help house young adults who may become homeless," said Bates, a member of the Senate Housing Committee. "This funding will help more people during these especially challenging times."
Bates represents California's 36th Senate District, which encompasses Vista, Oceanside, Encinitas and Carlsbad in San Diego County and most of southern Orange County.
The Housing Navigators Program provides funding to counties for the support of housing navigators to help people between the ages of 18 and 21 secure and maintain housing, with priority given to those in the foster care system. The county may use the funding to provide housing navigation services directly or through a contract with other local housing assistance programs.
On June 9, Bates also announced that the CDHCD awarded funding to San Diego and Orange counties for transitional housing. The program provides funding to counties for child welfare services agencies to help young adults aged 18 to 25 years find and maintain housing, with priority given to those formerly in the foster care or probation systems.
