The state allocates $7.84 million to help address homelessness
in Bakersfield, Kern County
BAKERSFIELD, CA – The California Homeless Coordinating and Finance Council announced allocations for the State’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Round 3 (HHAP 3), awarding nearly $8 million to efforts to address homelessness in the City of Bakersfield and Kern County. The program provides grants to local jurisdictions to address their immediate homeless challenges.
Allocations were based on local Point-In-Time (PIT) counts of homeless populations. A total of $7.84 million was awarded to the Bakersfield-Kern region:
• City of Bakersfield – $3,990,136.37
• Bakersfield-Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative (BKRHC) – $1,990,599.73
• County of Kern – $1,857,893.08
Unlike most other state and federal grants, HHAP grants are flexible and allow local governments to spend the dollars based on local needs and programming. This year marks the state’s third round of HHAP grants.
Over the past two years, the region has spent HHAP dollars on critical programming to end homelessness including:
• A 40-bed expansion of the Mission at Kern County;
• A 40-bed expansion of the Bakersfield Homeless Center;
• Improvements to the Homeless Management Information System;
• Efforts to address youth homelessness including rental assistance, case management and mentors;
• Expanded case management to track and support individuals placed in housing.
he Big City Mayor’s Coalition, composed of the mayors of California’s 13 largest cities, played an instrumental role in lobbying for the expansion of local homeless funding in the state’s 2021
budget. The HHAP program was slated to end this year and was not included in the initial state budget. After influential lobbying from Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh and her colleagues on the Big City Mayors Coalition, the Governor and Legislature added the HHAP program back to the state budget in the amount of $1 billion each year for the next two years.
“This latest round of HHAP 3 funding allocations is welcome news in our efforts to address homelessness locally,” said Dr. Anna Laven, BKRHC Executive Director. “As more information on these funds becomes available, I look forward to working with our homeless service providers and local government to identify the most impactful investment opportunities in our community.”
“These flexible HHAP dollars will assist local governments on the frontline of the statewide homeless humanitarian crisis,” said Mayor Goh. “The funding will provide for shelter and the critical wrap-around case management, mental health, and substance abuse treatment that moves individuals off the street and into permanent housing.”
CONTACT: Deborah Johnson; CVAF Executive Director,661.455.7400, deb.johnson@cavaf.org