The city of Fresno has been awarded $10.5 million by the state to provide homeless services at its city-owned shelters.
City officials announced on Monday the $10,491,196 grant by the state of California’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Round 6 (HHAP-6) funds for cities.
The funding will be used to support more than 500 existing emergency shelter beds for adults ages 18 and older, with case management support for shelter residents.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said his administration has provided shelter to more than 11,000 people since he entered office. Dyer estimated that more than half of these individuals have exited homelessness.
“These funds from the state are absolutely critical in our work to address the complex challenges of homelessness. Having the Governor’s and Legislature’s ongoing support in this work is invaluable,” Dyer said.
According to the July 2024 Point-in-Time County, Fresno County had 1,357 homeless individuals living in shelters.
City spokesperson Sontaya Rose said the state grant will support the operations of the Ambassador Inn, Victory Village, Travel Inn, Villa Motel, and Fresno Home, among others, until the city converts them to permanent housing.
Fresno has received more than $51 million in HHAP dollars through six rounds, Rose told The Bee last year.
The City expects to receive half of the funding within the next few months and a second disbursement next year.
Fresno’s motel conversion efforts
The city of Fresno has received tens of thousands of state dollars to convert motels into emergency shelters and permanent affordable housing.
Much of this funding came from the state’s Homekey program, a pandemic-era initiative to help cities purchase and convert motels into emergency shelters and affordable housing.
While the program has not been without its challenges locally and statewide, Dyer said the program has been crucial for tackling homelessness in Fresno.
“When I first became the mayor, we did not have one single emergency shelter bed in the city,” Dyer said in a Feb. 9 interview with The Bee.
The city, with the support of the Fresno City Council, purchased five hotels to repurpose as homeless shelters and partnered with the Fresno Housing Authority on four others.
The city has also purchased another shelter on Blackstone Avenue, Dyer said.
“We went from zero beds to 870 beds, and now we have 830 emergency shelter beds in the city,” Dyer said.
State funding requires that these emergency shelters be converted into permanent, affordable housing after five years of operation.
A woman stares as homeless gather on a sidewalk along G Street Friday, Dec. 26, 2025 in downtown Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
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Melissa Montalvo is The Fresno Bee’s accountability reporter. Prior to this role, she covered Latino communities for The Fresno Bee as the part of the Central Valley News Collaborative. She also reported on labor, economy and poverty through newsroom partnerships between The Fresno Bee, Fresnoland and CalMatters as a Report for America Corps member.