City spokesperson Sontaya Rose said the state grant will support the operations of the Ambassador Inn<\/a>, Victory Village, Travel Inn, Villa Motel, and Fresno Home, among others, until the city converts them to permanent housing.<\/p>\n Fresno has received more than $51 million in HHAP dollars through six rounds<\/a>, Rose told The Bee last year.<\/p>\n The City expects to receive half of the funding within the next few months and a second disbursement next year.<\/p>\n Fresno\u2019s motel conversion efforts<\/p>\n The city of Fresno has received tens of thousands of state dollars to convert motels into emergency shelters and permanent affordable housing.<\/p>\n Much of this funding came from the state\u2019s Homekey program<\/a>, a pandemic-era initiative to help cities purchase and convert motels into emergency shelters and affordable housing.<\/p>\n While the program has not been without its challenges locally<\/a> and statewide<\/a>, Dyer said the program has been crucial for tackling homelessness in Fresno.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first became the mayor, we did not have one single emergency shelter bed in the city,\u201d Dyer said in a Feb. 9 interview with The Bee<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/a><\/p>\n The city has also purchased another shelter on Blackstone Avenue, Dyer said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe went from zero beds to 870 beds, and now we have 830 emergency shelter beds in the city,\u201d Dyer said.<\/p>\n State funding requires that these emergency shelters be converted into permanent, affordable housing after five years of operation.<\/p>\n 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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