FRESNO, Calif. (KMJ/KFSN) — More than 100 people currently living in shelters will need to find a new place to stay by the end of the year due to a lack of funding.
The Journey Home and Golden State Triage Center shelters in central and west central Fresno will close by the end of the year.
Both were previously motels purchased and run by the Fresno Housing Authority. The funding for that came from “Project Homekey” grant money from the state during the pandemic. The money has now run out.
“This is hard,” said Raymond Rayos, who has only been living at Journey Home for a week.
Before that, he was living on the streets.
“I had an apartment but the rent went up. We were paying like $2,000 and now, it’s going up higher. We couldn’t afford it,” said Rayos.
There are dozens of stories like Raymond’s. In fact, there are 120 of them at Journey Home and Golden State Triage Center.
“This is tough. I mean, this would not have been the ideal situation, but we are really optimistic that permanent housing for people as opposed to a temporary shelter, is going to be a better long-term solution for these individuals and families,” said Tiffany Townsend, Deputy Executive Director of the Fresno Housing Authority.
She says they’re close to reaching a deal to turn one of the shelters into permanent housing.
Meanwhile, 120 people will need to find a place to live, which the housing authority is assisting with.
But places like the Fresno Mission are bracing for an influx of people seeking shelter over the next year to 18 months as funding runs out. They’re looking at options to expand even more.
“The federal money, the state money is gone. It’s gone. We can cry about it all we want, but at the end of the day, if people in Fresno want to really change the community, they have the power to provide more money than the state government, more money than the federal government,” said Matthew Dildine, CEO of the Fresno Mission.
Both shelters will stop accepting new residents on July 31.
