The Homekey program is a statewide effort to sustain and rapidly expand housing for persons experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, and who are, thereby, inherently impacted by COVID-19 and other communicable diseases.

Administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), grant funding is made available to local public entities, including cities, counties, or other local public entities, such as housing authorities or tribal entities within California.

Homekey is an opportunity for state, regional, and local public entities to develop a broad range of housing types, including but not limited to hotels, motels, hostels, single-family homes and multifamily apartments, adult residential facilities, and manufactured housing, and to convert commercial properties and other existing buildings to Permanent or Interim Housing for the Target Population.

Permanent supportive housing (PSH), or supportive housing, is an evidence-informed housing solution that combines flexible, voluntary supportive services such as health and mental health care and life skills with ongoing rental assistance for chronically homeless households. PSH is not a homeless shelter or public housing—it comes with no time limits, which is critical for helping people permanently avoid homelessness.

Supportive services are provided by Step Up to help residents enhance their way of living and achieve self-sufficiency. Supportive services are delivered through on- and off-site service delivery mechanisms. These services include social, health, educational, income support and employment services and benefits, coordination of community building and educational activities, individualized needs assessment, and individualized assistance with obtaining services and benefits—among others. Step Up administers supportive services through the Housing First Model.

Housing First is a homeless assistance approach that prioritizes providing permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness, thus ending their homelessness, and serving as a platform from which they can pursue personal goals and improve their quality of life. This approach is guided by the belief that people need basic necessities—like food and a place to live—before attending to anything less critical, such as getting a job, budgeting properly, or attending to substance use issues. Additionally, Housing First is based on the understanding that client choice is valuable in housing selection and supportive service participation, and that exercising that choice is likely to make a client more successful in remaining housed and improving their life.

Yes, the permanent supportive housing model has shown most residents—including hard-to-serve populations with very high needs—stay housed. The model has also resulted in significant decreases in emergency services, and reduced per-person service costs throughout the U.S. and in communities similar to Thousand Oaks.

Eligible residents include persons experiencing homelessness as well as chronically homeless individuals, couples, and families. All future residents must qualify with incomes at 30% of the area median income (AMI) or less. Residents are referred via the Coordinated Entry System (CES), which was designed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to ensure that people experiencing homelessness receive fair and equal access to available, affordable housing.