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San Mateo County will receive millions in funding after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced nearly $200 million in new state funds to combat homelessness during an April 18 press conference. These funds include money for clearing homeless encampments and investing in homeless resources.
The county itself will receive $14.1 million in one-time funding.
According to a recent “One Day Homeless Count,” there were about 1,808 homeless people in the county as of 2022. The results from the 2024 one-day homeless count have not yet been released.
In the 2022 report, Redwood City had the highest total number of people experiencing homelessness in the county, with 245, followed by East Palo Alto, with 169. Pacifica was third, with 161, and Half Moon Bay had 68.
Between the 2019 and 2022 counts, Menlo Park’s total more than doubled from 27 to 56. Overall, the county saw a 20% increase between those two counts.
The grant, alongside contributions from local and other sources, will facilitate the transition of individuals into both permanent, supportive housing and temporary accommodations. This assistance will include access to behavioral health and substance abuse treatment, mental health counseling, medical care and case-management services.
“Homelessness is a crisis that has been decades in the making,” said District 4 Supervisor Warren Slocum. “It’s not a crisis that we can take decades to remedy.”
A county press release from April 18 stated that it, along with partners, will “focus on 200 plus individuals” who mostly live along highways.
“These applications talk about specific outcomes, specific people and timelines,” Newsom said at the conference. “People have had it; they’re fed up.”
Newsom added that he felt people wanted to see these homeless encampments removed, but they wanted them removed in a compassionate way.
He added that some counties don’t put money into addressing homelessness but said Los Angeles County and San Mateo County are not among those counties.
“We’re determined to get these people housed,” Mike Callagy, the county’s chief executive, said during the press conference.
Along with the new funding, the county has changed its previous policy, under which those removed from encampments were required to go to one of eight Core Service Agencies. The policy change came as part of the grant application.
Outreach workers in the county will work to meet unhoused people where they are, but they said accepting shelter would be a choice.