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Newsom Issues Potential Emergency Homeless Shelter Site List

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Sacramento, CA – California Governor Gavin Newsom’s newly released list of state-owned properties available for local governments to use for local homelessness solutions includes two in the Mother Lode.

The list comes on the heels of Newsom’s meetings with regional officials working on the front lines across the state to combat homeless issues and his State of the State address, which referred to the impending release of the list and called for all levels of government to step up.

Included on the Governor’s Executive Order N-23-20 list of sites are one each in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties. In both cases, the properties are owned by Caltrans. They are located in Valley Springs near Warren Road in the 9800-block of Highway 26 and in East Sonora at 785 Mono Way, flanked by Greenley and Sanguinetti roads

Clarke Broadcasting reached out to Caltrans District 10 officials for any details as to what they may have received in the way of logistical directions by the Governor’s Office and have not yet heard back.

Newsom states he wants local leaders to review the available state-owned sites in their areas and work with the state towards developing housing and shelter proposals that help move people off the streets.

Under his plan, the state is offering local governments one-dollar leases to use the identified properties and the ability for qualifying projects to tap into some $650 million in State Emergency Homeless Aid and technical assistance for building out the sites.

Emergency Shelter Actions Outlined 

In Wednesday’s address, the Governor outlined a five-part approach; reducing street homelessness quickly and humanely through emergency actions; a laser focus on getting the mentally ill out of tents and into treatment; providing stable funding to get sustainable results; tackling the underproduction of affordable housing; and doing it all with real accountability and consequences.

“As a former mayor I get that localism is determinative and that all levels of government must work together to get Californians off the street and into housing and supportive services,” Newsom states. “The state is stepping up by making land available to cities and counties willing to meet this moment head-on. I invite local leaders to use this land on what works for their community’s homeless needs so that we can begin to make meaningful progress to help individuals experiencing homelessness.”

While there are numerous organizations that are addressing local homelessness issues, and Tuolumne County recently approved to create a dedicated staff coordinator position, the largest entity, the Central Sierra Continuum of Care (COC), encompasses a significant portion of collaborating partners.

The COC is a four-county planning body for service providers and others serving the homeless communities in Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa, and Tuolumne. It shares responsibilities, governance, and structures along with systems operations planning to provide services across county lines.

While the collaborative has been in existence for about a decade, the expanding funding pipeline to address regional homelessness challenges and some major grant awards it has won has elevated its profile over the past two years.

Clarke Broadcasting reached out to COC officials for a comment and is awaiting a callback.

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