Where leaders are willing to say yes, there are solutions to homelessness.

There is an elegant win-win premise underlying the state’s Homekey initiative. The concept is to convert hotels or motels into long-term supportive housing. The units go in a building footprint that already exists, and serves a community that desperately needs a place to live; the hotel owner can sell a property, one that they had perhaps disinvested in.

Homekey grew out of the temporary Covid-era Roomkey initiative, and is now in a final round of funding, after allocating at least $2.8 billion to create 15,000-plus housing units.

It’s elegant in concept, but some projects have been difficult in reality. A now-bankrupt developer, Shangri-La Industries, went belly-up while working on three projects in Salinas and one in King City, leading to lawsuits and delays in getting projects done and fully inhabited.

On Tuesday, April 22, King City Council approved a settlement agreement, and authorized the acquisition of the foreclosed property, formerly a Days Inn – and its sale to the Housing Authority of the County of Monterey for $1. It means the project can finally go forward after it was approved in 2022.

“King City is the first public agency to develop a path forward after the devastating actions of Shangri-La Industries and its management, and we finally get our Homekey project to reality,” King City Mayor Mike LeBarre said. “It took a long time to unwind ourselves from that debacle. But this wasn’t done alone.” He reserved thanks for a long list of people – city, county and state-level staff and elected officials.

Thinking in partnership is what worked for King City. Partnership needs to be part of solving homelessness, and the good news is that county leaders are eager to be collaborators. County supervisors Luis Alejo and Wendy Root Askew serve on the county’s Health, Housing, Homelessness and Human Services Committee (known as 4H). When they last met on Monday, April 28, the spirit of collaboration was clear.

“The county cannot and should not attempt to solve homelessness on our own,” Roxanne Wilson, the County’s homeless services director, said.

“We are all in this work together,” Askew said.

That spirit of collaboration really mattered when Wilson pitched the committee on a proposal from developer Anabasis, which envisions converting the 43-room Sand Dollar Inn on Fremont Boulevard in Seaside into permanent supportive housing. Anabasis partners are Dean Sparks of Carmel Valley and Adam Conour of Merced County. Both men are Army combat veterans who, in the 20 years they’ve known each other, have been on a mission to help fellow veterans out of homelessness.

The firm, with help from consultant Kurt Overmeyer, is applying for Homekey funding. (It’s too soon to have a design locked in – with City approval, they will add modular family units to the parking lot – but Overmeyer anticipates they’ll request $15-$20 million.)

If approved, Anabasis will acquire the hotel from the Panchal family, which would invest the proceeds into their other nearby hotels. And the Monterey Peninsula would get its first (and much-needed) Homekey project.

Anabasis pitched the idea to the 4H Committee because the state’s requirements have gotten stricter. To qualify for a Homekey grant, they need a letter of support from what’s known as a Continuum of Care provider, and also an enforceable commitment to fund operations for future residents for five years. Alejo and Askew eagerly said they were prepared to pledge $5 million ($1 million a year).

“We will figure out how to backfill that when the time comes,” Askew said. “I wouldn’t want to see an opportunity lost,” Alejo added.

That funding commitment is a big deal for Anabasis, which will next go to Seaside City Council for approval before submitting its application to the state by a May 30 deadline.

“We have more big hills to climb, but we climbed the biggest mountain,” Overmeyer says.

“Maintaining a great relationship with cities and counties is critical,” Sparks says.

Imagine what could have happened in Pacific Grove, where public opposition put a stop to a potential Homekey project in 2022. Now, three years later, Seaside has a chance to step up where P.G. bailed, with eager partners across the county.

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com