Addressing homelessness: $8 million state grant to fund new Berkeley diversion program
BERKELEY — A new diversion program meant to help unhoused residents struggling with substance and mental health disorders is coming to Berkeley thanks to an $8 million state grant.
The three-year grant will help the city establish its CareBridge Program, a treatment initiative that will provide up to 80 participants a year with six months of transitional housing and wraparound services as an alternative to incarceration.
“This is a really tremendous opportunity to help individuals break the cycle of recidivism by providing stability and integrated services,” Mayor Adena Ishii said during a meeting Tuesday night before the City Council accepted the grant. “Berkeley is leveraging every resource available to provide support to people and their journey towards safety, stability and security in their lives.”
Funding for the grant comes from Proposition 47, a law approved by voters in 2014 that reduced some low-level drug and theft crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and funneled savings from prison costs to a program for mental health and substance abuse rehabilitation.
Berkeley officials plan to spend about $6.3 million of the $8 million award on transitional housing, case management, and peer navigation services. The rest of the money will go toward meals, program evaluation, data infrastructure, indirect costs, project management, and grant administration.
No matching city funds were required to receive the grant. Councilmember Brent Blackaby said it was “a net positive” for Berkeley, as officials continue to grapple with an ongoing $20 million structural deficit. But grant funding is contingent on there being enough money flowing into the Proposition 47 grant program at the state level.
City staff would seek alternative funding or phase out the program if the grant is cancelled by the Board of State and Community Corrections, an independent juvenile and criminal justice system oversight body.
“When we’re thinking about addressing our crisis with respect to homelessness, this is an important program and this funding will be well utilized to help us go at some root causes,” Blackaby said.
About 844 people are believed to be homeless in Berkeley, according to a 2024 Point in Time Count. Of those individuals, about 26% were struggling with a substance abuse disorder and 43% with serious mental illness, according to data. About 24% have had previous interactions with the justice system in 2023.
The CareBridge program furthers goals outlined in the city’s Reimagining Public Safety initiative, an effort launched in 2020 to create a more equitable approach to public safety by investing more in health, education and social services.
Credit for securing the $8 million Proposition 47 grant was largely given to Carianna Arredondo, assistant to the city manager who also leads the city’s Reimagining Public Safety Initiative.
City Manager Paul Buddenhagen called the grant opportunity one of the most important items on the agenda that evening. With the grant now accepted by the council, staff will return to a future meeting with a contract agreement with a program operator for the council to approve.