Making sure the money is there
State providers leverage Medi-Cal funds to help keep people off the streets. At the nonprofit MidPen Housing, which serves 12 counties in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, roughly 40% of the units in the program’s pipeline are earmarked for “extremely low-income” people, a group that includes those who are homeless, said Danielle McCluskey, senior director of resident services. CalAIM reimbursements help fund the part of MidPen that focuses on supportive services across a wide range of experiences, such as chronic homelessness, mental health issues and those leaving the foster care system.
Dream of Housing and Health Care Now a Reality
On May 29, nonprofit MidPen Housing hosted a celebration for Bienestar Plaza Apartments, 57 affordable rentals at 1520 Capitola Road, Live Oak, long awaited and much needed in this community. The apartments are next to a 20,000-square-foot health clinic opened by nonprofit Santa Cruz Community Health and nonprofit Dientes Community Dental Care 11-chair clinic, both of which opened in 2022.
This completes the vision of a partnership by Santa Cruz Community Health and Dientes and MidPen to turn an unused county property into a campus of health and housing in one location, which is rare but may become less rare locally.