City Challenge to Newsom’s Homeless-Hotel Plan Risks Project Homekey Statewide

A California city is suing one of the governor’s Homekey homeless-to-homeless-shelters projects, claiming the state constitution requires local residents to have the opportunity to vote on publicly-funded low-income housing. Should the court side with the city, billions of dollars of projects across the state could be put on hold as they are faced with new requirements for costly ballot measures. The City of Millbrae contends San Mateo County’s planned $33 million purchase and conversion of the 100-room hotel to a “supportive housing” project would cost the city half a million dollars per year in occupancy taxes alone, with additional lost sales tax, property tax and other losses leading to another half a million dollars lost for the city each year.