The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 on Tuesday to OK more than $989,000 for the cities of Fontana and Victorville to address unsheltered homelessness by adding transitional housing services.
Fontana will get up to $500,000 for The Path, a 120-bed shelter at 17133 Valley Blvd. that offers unhoused city residents intensive case management and access to health and housing services.
Victorville will receive up to about $490,000 for its Wellness Center, a 170-bed housing campus with wraparound services that include medical care, behavioral health support and housing navigation for people experiencing homelessness.
“The grant fund allocations build on previous board investments in both facilities and reflect a shared commitment to improving health outcomes and addressing regional homelessness through coordinated, whole-person care,” according to a county statement.
The San Bernardino County Community Development and Housing Department will allocate the funds from the Housing and Homelessness Incentive Program, a state program that enables health plans to earn one-time grants “for improving health outcomes and access to whole person care services by addressing homelessness and housing insecurity as social drivers of health and health disparities,” according to the approved agreements. Molina Healthcare of California will provide the funding.
The 2024 point-in-time count found that Fontana and Victorville have a “substantial percentage of the county’s unsheltered homeless population,” officials reported.
In Victorville, 326 people were experiencing unsheltered homelessness, according to the January 2024 count. Fontana’s total was 260. The county’s unsheltered population was 3,055 in 2024, up from 2,976 the previous year.
The county defines unsheltered homelessness as, “An individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, meaning: An individual or family with a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.”
The agreements are available for viewing on the county’s website.
