More than $6.6 million in grants available under the State of California Homeless Emergency Aid Program has been apportioned to 15 entities throughout San Bernarrdino County, as approved by the board of supervisors on Tuesday.
A total of 44 entities applied for the grants. After considering the applications, county officials recommended that the state consider 22 of those. It recommended against 22 of the others.
Of the 22 recommended, the state came through with funding for all but seven of those. The fifteen chosen were:  Catholic Charities San Bernardino & Riverside Counties, which is to receive $362,000; the  City of Barstow, which is to get $376,580; the City of Rialto, which is set to take in $600,759; Family Assistance Program, to be provided with $525,600; High Desert Homeless Services, Inc., which is to claim $150,343.30; Inland Valley Council of Churches, dba Inland Valley Hope Partners, which will get $307,170;  Knowledge, Education for Your Success, Inc., which is to get $320,000; Mental Health Systems, Inc., approved for $520,160; Mercy House Living Centers, which is slated to get 457,184; Morongo Unified School District, which was granted $195,000;  St. Mary Medical Center,  promised $140,350; Step Up on Second, Inc., slated for $720,000 in funding; The Chance Project, which is to get the most among any of the 15 recipients, a whopping $1.4million; ictor Valley Family Resource Center, which was allotted $150,000; and the Water of Life Community Church, provided with $393,000.
According to Dena Fuentes, the deputy executive officer for the San Bernardino County Community Development and Housing Agency,
“The State of California Homeless Emergency Aid Program is a one-time $500 million block grant program authorized under Senate Bill 850 to provide direct assistance to cities and counties to address the homelessness crisis throughout California. With the Homeless Emergency Aid Program  funding, the recommended entities will be able to expand rental assistance and rapid rehousing programs, street outreach and housing navigation, family reunification programs, prevention and eviction prevention programs, emergency and transitional housing solutions, diversion programs, homeless youth programs, and other supportive services.”
Fuentes said she recommended that the board of supervisors use its authority “to allocate $6,618,146.30 of State of California Homeless Emergency Aid Program  grant funds to 15 entities to provide services to an estimated 3,400 homeless individuals and families at imminent risk of homelessness throughout San Bernardino County.”
Catholic Charities San Bernardino & Riverside Counties is supposed to use the money it will receive to assist the homeless or avert homeless for those at risk of losing their homes in  Adelanto, Colton, Grand Terrance, Hesperia, Loma Linda, Montclair, Ontario, Redlands, San Bernardino, Upland, Victorville, and Yucaipa and seek to prevent 60 households from being evicted in the coming year provide 23 households with motel or hotel vouchers this year and rapidly rehouse 16 households this coming year
The City of Barstow is supposed to use the grant money it receives to hand out motel or hotel vouchers for 250 nights per year, provide rental assistance for three months to 38 households per year; pay the security deposits for nine households this year; give 12.5 households utility assistance this year and provide transportation assistance tickets to approximately 25 individuals this year.
The Chance Project  is expected to offer diversion housing counseling to at least 1,000 individuals/families experiencing or at imminent risk of homelessness in San Bernardino County to help them resolve their immediate housing crisis so that at least 60 percent of participating individuals/families successfully achieve stable housing without relying on housing provided or subsidized through the homeless service system. At least 70 percent of participating individuals/families are to achieve stable housing within 30 days.  At least 75 percent of participating individuals/families that achieve stable housing are not to return to homelessness within one year. The average cost to facilitate successful housing outcomes with diversion will be less than $2,000 per individual/family.
The Family Assistance Program that will turn the now-shuttered 2,760-square foot Fire Station 35 in Joshua Tree, located on Sierra Avenue in the Panorama Heights area, into a day-use homeless facility. Family Assistance Program has said it will use the station, which it is renting  for $1 per year from the county, to provide a place for the homeless to rest, bathe or shower, and eat.
-Mark Gutglueck