RIVERSIDE (CNS) – Riverside County will redouble efforts to find stable housing for more than 100 seniors who are homeless and currently living in motels and hotels in the Riverside metropolitan area, officials said Tuesday.
The county was included in the Stamford, Connecticut-based Rapid Results Institute’s “100-Day Challenge” to find permanent residences for 140 transients who are 65 years old and over.
The program was adopted by Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this year, and only a few counties were named as participants, according to the county Department of Housing, Homelessness Prevention & Workforce Solutions.
“This challenge allows us the opportunity to unite efforts and ultimately provide seniors with the tools and assistance they need to avoid becoming homeless in the first place,” HHPWS Director Heidi Marshall said. “We are excited to continue this great work as we exit seniors out of hotels and motels and into permanent housing.”
The goal is to have the temporarily housed seniors in permanent confines by Sept. 3, Marshall said.
Officials could not immediately confirm the amount of funding available for the 100-Day Challenge, or sources of financial support. However, the county’s Project Room Key program, which relies on state aid, is part of the effort.
The prospective housing units and their locations that will be available to the recipients were not disclosed.
Other county agencies involved in the 100-Day Challenge include the Department of Public Social Services, the Housing Authority and the Office on Aging.
