Update: Modesto gets $16.1 million grant to turn old motel into 54 apartments for homeless
The city of Modesto has won a $16.1 million state grant to renovate a rundown motel into 54 studio apartments for homeless people.
The work at the Travelers Motel on North Ninth Street will likely be done by next October, city spokeswoman Diana Ruiz-Del Re said by email Wednesday.
The project includes health and social services for the new residents and relocation help for long-term motel guests. The latter totaled 38 households when the City Council approved the application in May.
The grant was among nine announced in the third round of the Homekey program. It seeks quick-turnaround solutions to California’s housing shortage.
The money “helps us to provide stable housing, which can significantly improve the lives of individuals and families in need,” said Jessica Hill, the city’s director of community and economic development, in a news release.
City joins with Fresno-based developer
Modesto partnered on the application with RH Community Builders, based in Fresno. Funding secured from other sources brings the total to about $22.3 million.
The site will have 38 apartments for residents 18 to 25 years old and 16 for the general homeless population. Another unit will be for the live-in manager. The prospective tenants will have to go through an assessment of their needs for mental and physical health and other services.
The providers will include two nonprofits, Aspiranet and the Center for Human Services, along with Stanislaus County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services. The city also is teaming on the site purchase with UPholdings, an Illinois-based real estate firm with a Fresno branch office.
“We are excited to work in Modesto with such committed partners to create a safe, healthy foundation of housing coupled with the supportive services needed for residents to achieve their goals,” President and Principal Jessica Hoff Berzac said in the release.
Three other sources of money
The funding also includes a $2.27 million loan to RH from the city’s federal housing funds, $2.15 million from the Health Plan of San Joaquin, and $1.78 million from a county effort called Community System of Care.
The latest Homekey funding totaled nearly $180 million around the state. None besides the Travelers Motel was in or near Stanislaus County.
Turlock had sought $9.95 million for 50 apartments made from old shipping containers along South Walnut Road. The City Council canceled the project last month after learning that the homes must be permanent, contrary to a pledge to neighbors.
