U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced over $633 million in federal funding this week for programs to tackle homelessness and housing insecurity across California.
The funding includes help for homeless youth, continuation of homelessness prevention programs, rental assistance, and housing vouchers for rural areas in the state.
“Federal funding coming to California to address homelessness and the affordable housing crisis is vital,” Padilla said. “But we must continue to do more to make meaningful investments in housing to ensure long-term, sustainable solutions to address this crisis. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to secure more resources for California and to ensure they are used effectively to assist our most at risk communities.”
A dozen San Diego County programs are included in the funding.
The Community Resource Center (CRC) in Encinitas is one of them. The center’s program officer, Rebecca Nussbaum, says the grant means they can help more families.
"This funding is gonna allow CRC to work with an additional 35 households ... that are currently unsheltered and unhoused and to support them in finding and securing housing in our area," she said.
Nussbaum says federal funding is essential for organizations fighting the fast pace of people entering homelessness and trying to prevent it.
"These are really essential dollars to continuing our mission and our work in the community. We really believe that housing is a right and a need for all, and making sure that everyone has access to support and services that they need to afford a home, really helps us accomplish that goal," she said.
The funding awarded to CRC will also help support their domestic violence program.
Greg Anglea, the CEO of Interfaith Community Services, says organizations across San Diego are seeing an increase in homelessness.
"Homelessness is increasing in our communities and we believe it is a worth while investment for our federal government to also provide an increase in funding so that we can help more people," Anglea said.
Federal grants aren’t new to Interfaith and Anglea said without the support organizations fall further behind on helping more people get off the streets,
"Without this funding source, housing programs that are housing disabled and formerly disabled seniors, would close," Anglea said. "And without this funding homeless families who we will be working with in the year ahead, would not be able to get rental assistance and emergency housing to end their homelessness."
While final numbers for the 2023 Point in Time Count have yet to be released, Anglea said last year about 2,000 individuals experiencing homelessness were counted in North County.
With limited resources, he said organizations need all the support they can get to help get people into housing.
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City leaders are proposing new rights for San Diego renters and making it harder for landlords to evict. Then, the federal government is providing funding for programs and nonprofits to tackle housing insecurity and homelessness. Plus, the California Wolf Center in Julian is helping the Mexican Gray Wolf population rebound.
