SLO County awarded $4.3 million to help the unhoused from California Department of Housing and Community Development

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Over 800 million dollars in housing assistance is being granted across California including right here on the Central Coast.

This funding helped build the Pismo Terrace, Paso Robles Homekey project and the current Calle Joaquin motel transformation underway in San Luis Obispo.

"Previous rounds of funding has provided support to operations in our emergency shelters countywide," says Jorge Solis with SLO County Homeless Services.

The Five Cities Homeless Coalition here in Grover Beach is one local program that has benefitted from “Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention" also known as H-H-A-P funds.

"This is our newest shelter. It's our newest interim shelter or biological. And Baka Shelter is a 30 individual units where folks are coming in who are experiencing homelessness," says Janna Nichols with 5 Cities Homeless Coalition.

The coalition's most recent report shows over 400 walk-ins, hundreds needing food and water, and 13 people being rehoused in september alone.

We’re assisting them not only with shelter but case management services, supportive services to help them then transition into permanent housing.

Despite adding 70 new beds to shelters county wide this year, officials say the demand is outgrowing shelter capacity.

"Over the past two years, we've increased about 70 new emergency shelter beds countywide, so about 20 new beds in North County and 50 new beds in South County, which is great. So we have more emergency shelter capacity, but if our funding is not growing, then we're not having the funding to sustain all these new programs," says Solis.

Local shelters say a main issue in the area is the high cost of living and access to affordable housing.

"One of the key issues we pretty much heard over and over was access to affordable housing, specifically for the workforce," Solis continues.

Outside of donating and volunteering at local shelters, advocates say other ways people can get involved to support the unhoused community here at home is by attending city council and county board meetings.

"Our challenge, of course, is that there is an appropriate affordable housing here in the county. And so these programs only work so long as we have housing to help people move into," says Nichols.

SLO county's most recent count shows 800 people experiencing homelessness - not including those at shelters or in transitional housing.