Project Homekey: The Silver Bullet to Create More Housing for the Homeless?

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2021

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As part of his $12 billion two-year plan to address homelessness, Governor Newsom initially earmarked $7 billion to be used for a variety of housing measures, including Project Homekey, a state-sponsored program that buys existing motels, hotels and office buildings to convert them into housing. Housing advocates say this is a game changer that could create 43,000 units of housing that would help alleviate the suffering of the 161,000 people in California without a home. But some experts say it’s unlikely to be sufficient, as the state’s homeless population grows due to unemployment from the pandemic and the looming end of the statewide eviction moratorium. We’ll talk about how Homekey works, who it serves and whether this ambitious program is a sustainable solution for what has been an intractable problem. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Support for KQED podcasts comes from San Francisco International Airport.
0:05.0	Did you know that SFO has a world-class museum?
0:07.9	Get ready to be wowed by art, history, science, and cultural exhibitions throughout the terminals.
0:14.0	Learn more at flysfo.com slash museum.
0:18.6	Support for forum comes from Broadway SF, presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story.
0:25.9	From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:32.5	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an unspeakable crime,
0:39.2	it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice, and devotion. The riveting
0:47.1	and gloriously hopeful parade plays the Orpheum Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through
0:53.0	June 8th. Tickets on sale now at
0:56.0	Broadwaysf.com.
0:59.4	From KQED.
1:00.9	From KQED.
1:15.9	From KQED Public Radio in San Francisco, this is Forum.
1:16.9	I'm Scott Schaefer.
1:22.5	In the past year, California has created thousands of new units of housing for homeless people living on the streets.
1:23.6	The initiative, known as Homekey, was launched by investing billions of dollars as the pandemic began.
1:30.3	It's the fastest expansion of homeless housing in state history, but there are questions about equity,
1:36.3	whether it's serving those who need it most, and if the funding to convert hotels, motels, and other kinds of housing for the homeless is sustainable in the long term.
1:46.0	That's what's coming up next on Forum, right after the news.
1:50.0	Welcome to Forum, I'm Scott Schaefer.
2:04.6	Well, it seems like forever ago, but last June, as the pandemic was tightening its grip on us,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.