Former Motel 6 site renamed Delta Landing; it’s been closed for renovations during which residents were relocated; year-long program has waitlist; already serving about 40 Antioch residents; Antioch subcommittee’s proposal to spend $300K might not help 15 more unhoused residents

By Allen Payton

Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) will host a grand opening ceremony for Delta Landing, a 172-unit interim housing site that will provide shelter and on-site services to help county residents experiencing homelessness to regain housing. It’s located at the former Motel 6 which was purchased by the county, last year. (See related article)

Delta Landing is one of the first projects completed with funding from California’s Homekey Program, which allowed Contra Costa County to purchase, renovate and transform a motel into interim housing.

The site was previously used to house homeless residents during the pandemic through the state’s Project Roomkey. But the former motel has been undergoing renovations during which the residents were relocated according to Supervisor Federal Glover. “We didn’t put them back on the street,” he said. “We will have a grand opening next Monday.”

Glover didn’t know when residents would move in but added, “That will be shared during the event.”

The event will be held from 12 to 1 p.m. Monday, Dec. 6, 2021 at 2101 Loveridge Road in Pittsburg. The event begins in the central courtyard.

The event will begin with prepared comments followed by a question-and-answer session for news media and guided site tours including rooms, the site’s new wellness center and other features.

It will help Contra Costa County to address critical need for more services for residents experiencing homelessness in the eastern part of the county. The most recent point-in-time count showed about 500 East County residents may be without shelter on any given night. Prior to Delta Landing, there were only 20 shelter beds available east of Concord in Contra Costa County.

Antioch Subcommittee’s Proposal to Spend $300,000 Might Not Help 15 More Unhoused Residents

On Tuesday, Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe announced that he and District 2 Councilman Mike Barbanica, as members of the city council’s Unhoused Residents Ad Hoc Committee, proposed spending $300,000 to help get 15 homeless residents into the Delta Landing program. (See related article)

Asked about the proposal, Glover said, “we’re already serving Antioch residents” and estimated that figure to be about 40 people. “We welcome partners who want to contribute financially to support the program. We had enough money from the state to purchase the motel, and the County has budgeted some funds for the ongoing costs. But we’ll be applying for grants and looking for others to contribute.”

He also said there’s a wait list for rooms and shared they “expect residents to be there for about a year. But hopefully some can move on, sooner. It depends on each individual.”

The $300,000 proposed by the Antioch council’s subcommittee would be used to pay for current program costs and may not result in helping 15 more unhoused residents from living on the streets.

Questions were sent to Thorpe and Barbanica, asking if they were aware of how the $300,000 funds would be spent by the county and if the funds could instead be spent to ensure 15 additional unhoused Antioch residents would be helped off the street by using voucher at the Executive Inn on E. 18th Street or other motels in the city. They were also asked how soon the Antioch program would begin now that the Planning Commission has voted to recommend approval of the Transitional Housing Overlay District for the Executive Inn.

Please check back later for any updates to this report.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 3rd, 2021 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Contra Costa County, East County, Homeless, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.