California Briefs: Hotels Converted to Housing; Grants Bolster Education to Career; Unemployment At Record Low; New State Firefighting Program

LA County Moves to Convert More Motels into Housing

LOS ANGELES — Building on the success of Project Homekey 1.0, Los Angeles County Aug. 24, secured $243 million in state funding for Homekey 2.0 which it will use to convert 14 hotels and multi-family apartments into interim or permanent housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. This will add 720 units in Boyle Heights, Compton, East Hollywood, Inglewood, Koreatown, Redondo Beach, Lancaster, San Pedro, Westlake, Woodland Hills, and unincorporated Los Angeles.  

Nine of the Homekey 2.0 properties will provide interim housing, including 291 units for families, 69 units for youth, and 61 units for veterans, all of whom will receive support towards permanent housing solutions.

The remaining five properties, with a combined total of 299 units, will provide permanent supportive housing into which particularly vulnerable people who have experienced homelessness can live and be connected to healthcare, mental health care, substance use disorder treatment, public benefits and other services that can help them stabilize and avoid returning to the streets.

Located in Baldwin Park, Compton, Hacienda Heights, Harbor City, Long Beach, Norwalk, Whittier and unincorporated Los Angeles, Homekey 1.0 properties have provided more than 1,000 vulnerable men, women, and children a safe place to stay indoors during the pandemic. Most Homekey 1.0 units started out as interim housing, but all of them will have been converted into permanent supportive housing by 2024. 

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California Distributes $54 Million in Grants to Bolster the Education-to-Career Pipeline

SACRAMENTO —  Gov. Gavin Newsom Aug. 24 announced that the state is awarding $54 million in grants to Los Angeles County, the Inland Empire, and the border region to strengthen the K-16 education-to-career pipeline. The grants are part of the K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program, which is a $250 million investment providing new pathways to career opportunities and addressing long-standing equity gaps for students in their local communities.

The program, administered by the Department of General Services or DGS, office of public school construction, and Foundation for California Community Colleges, provides funding to enhance or create collaborative efforts between the University of California system, the California State University system, community colleges, K-12 school districts, and workforce partners. This is a key component of a statewide strategy for cultivating regional economies and ensuring that education, vocational and workforce programs work together to strengthen education and employment opportunities.

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California’s Unemployment Rate Falls to Record Low Level

SACRAMENTO —  on Aug. 19, The Governor’s office reported California’s unemployment rate fell to historically low levels in July, while adding the state’s largest job gain since February and second largest since August 2021. 

The number of employed Californians rose for the seventh consecutive month, the state added 84,800 nonfarm jobs, and the private sector achieved full recovery from the pandemic-induced recession:

• In July, California’s unemployment rate dropped 0.3% to 3.9%, establishing a new record low going back to the official data series that started in 1976.
• The unemployment rate also dropped below the pre-pandemic level of 4.1% in February 2020 and the number of unemployed Californians fell to a 33-year low in July, falling by 46,000 persons to 759,000 persons – this number has fallen for the 13th consecutive month.
• California added 84,800 nonfarm jobs in July – the state’s largest job gain since February and second largest since August 2021, bringing the total nonfarm employment in the state to 17,618,100 jobs.
• The state accounted for 16.1% of the nation’s new jobs in July.
• California has recovered all of the private-sector jobs lost during the pandemic-induced recession.
• Number of employed Californians rose by 23,000 persons, the state’s seventh consecutive month of employment gain.
• Year-to-date, California has created 477,600 – 14.5% – of the nation’s 3,296,000 new jobs.

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Cal OES, California Military Department Partner to Create Nation’s First Firefighting Strike Team

SACRAMENTO — The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services or Cal OES and the California Military Department announced Aug. 17, the creation of the first all-hazards fire engine strike team – known as Team Blaze – operated by a state military department.

Cal OES is deploying a Type VI strike team of wildland-style fire engines to the California Military Department to enhance California’s Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid fleet.

Each with the capacity to carry a four-person crew, these engines complement the Military Department’s existing task force rattlesnake hand crew program consisting of soldiers and airmen. Since the start of operations in 2019, task force rattlesnake has cut, cleared and treated at-risk wildfire project areas in central and northern parts of California.

The state’s Military Department maintains a firefighting program at their military bases, with trained personnel providing fire fighting prevention, mitigation and protection services to California and military bases and camps. From responding to wildfires in rural settings, to protecting structures in urban areas and performing urban search and rescue operations, these engines are outfitted to support a variety of emergency situations. Type VI engines can carry a four-person crew, get into tight areas, carry 300 gallons of water and quickly attack fires.