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Latest Update

Homekey logoOn September 21st, Marin and the City of Larkspur, in partnership with ECS, announced that they had identified a potential Homekey 2.0 opportunity at the former skilled nursing facility located at 1251 S. Eliseo Drive in Larkspur. The property would be operated by ECS as a 43 to 50-unit Permanent Supportive Housing facility for single adults experiencing homelessness. The program would include intensive on-site wraparound services to support people in these new units.

On October 12, the County of Marin’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in support of authorizing staff to submit an application to the State for Homekey funding. The discussion, which you can view here (items #7 & #8 on the agenda), included details about our countywide homelessness strategy, the Homekey funding opportunity, and a detailed description of the development and service plan. The team plans to submit an application to the State of California’s Department of Housing and Community Development by early November, with the anticipation that we will be notified about whether or not we will be awarded funding in December (this project is contingent upon funding from the State). Please see 1251seliseo.com for more information about this property.

Larkspur Homekey 2.0 Information Sessions

On January 10, the County of Marin provided a primer on Housing First and the history of homelessness in Marin. While not specific to Homekey, this presentation provided background information on Marin's collaborative, permanent housing-focused approach to ending homelessness. Video of the presentation is available here:

On January 18th, the County of Marin hosted a community forum about the proposed Homekey 2.0 project at 1251 South Eliseo Drive in Larkspur. Video of the discussion is available here:

 

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Background

In July of 2020, the State of California launched a $750 million program called “Project Homekey”, with the aim of helping local communities rapidly acquire hotels, motels, commercial buildings, and other creative housing types in order to rapidly house people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic. By December 29, 2020, the program had resulted in the acquisition of 94 projects, representing 6,029 units of permanent housing for individuals experiencing homelessness. In Marin County specifically, we received approximately $8.6 million to aid the purchase of 63 new units of permanent supportive housing in San Rafael and Corte Madera.

Given the success of “Homekey 1.0”, the state has budgeted an additional $1.45 billion for Homekey in FY2021-22, and another $1.3 billion in 2022-23. We are expecting the NOFA for "Homekey 2.0" to come out in August or September of 2021.

To that end, Marin County Health & Human Services has issued a Request for Information seeking property owners and operators who are interested in potentially selling a property to the County and/or its development partner. While the priority deadlines for this solicitation has passed, it remains open and the County will continue to consider additional properties as they are submitted.

In July 2021, Marin selected Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco (ECS) as its development sponsor for potential Homekey properties. ECS currently has a portfolio of 16 permanent supportive housing projects, ranging in size from 256 units down to 33 units, collectively housing more than 1,600 formerly homeless people. Their development efforts began in 1994 with San Francisco’s first newly constructed permanent supportive housing project, and last year they worked with the City and County of San Francisco to acquire two separate properties through the Project Homekey 1.0 process. In addition to their housing programs, ECS also provides in-house workforce development, behavioral health, and healthy aging services.

As the primary Development Sponsor, ECS will take the lead on vetting the Homekey projects that have been submitted to date. If for whatever reason ECS declines to pursue a potentially viable project, two other development sponsor applicants, Eden Housing and EAH Housing, were determined to be highly qualified and will have an opportunity to consider that project.

In the menu above, you will find frequently asked questions about Project Homekey, the County of Marin's application to HCD, and staff reports and presentations. Questions may be directed to Ashley Hart McIntyre, Homelessness Policy Analyst with Health and Human Services.

Prior Homekey 2.0 Info Sessions:

During the weeks of April 12th and April 19th, Opening Doors Marin, in partnership with the County of Marin, hosted a series of ten community information sessions about a possible “Homekey 2.0”. The goal of these sessions was to provide an overview of Homekey 1.0, describe what Homekey 2.0 might look like, and solicit community feedback about both the process and possible projects.

Recordings of all sessions are available here.

All sessions were open to the public and presented the same information. Presenters will answer questions and gather input on community needs. The sessions did not discuss specific potential HomeKey sites, but rather general criteria for what would make a feasible site. If you have a potential site in mind, please feel free to share that information with Opening Doors at info@openingdoorsmarin.org.

To continue to provide a transparent and open process, the County of Marin, the City of Larkspur, and ECS co-hosted two community forums. Both of these forums followed the same format – a 30-minute presentation from partner organizations followed by an up to 90-minute Q&A with the community.

Thursday, October 21st, 6-8pm

Thursday, November 4th, 6-8pm