California’s Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH) is giving Shasta County until Feb. 10 to transfer millions of dollars in state housing funds to the City of Redding or face repercussions from the state.
The controversy dates back more than a year ago when Shasta County received around $4 million in state funds for homelessness. At the time, Shasta was the lead administrator for the NorCal Continuum of Care (CoC), a consortium dedicated to addressing issues of housing and homelessness in the counties of Shasta, Lassen, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Del Norte and Modoc. The funds were supposed to be distributed to the partner counties.
Last year, Shasta County notified the state that it no longer wished to be the lead administrator for the CoC. Since September, that role has been assumed by the City of Redding.
So, where’s the money? That’s what Cal ICH wants to know. It says Shasta has not relinquished the funds as required, despite months of effort on the part of the state.
“While Cal ICH has worked collaboratively with Shasta County to facilitate the transfer of HHAP funds, the delay is no longer acceptable,” the agency wrote in a Jan. 10 letter to the county. Cal ICH has given Shasta 30 days from the date of the letter to hand the remaining funds over to Redding — the new administrator — or face a list of possible remedies, including recoupment of all the money it received from the state.
Read more at Shasta Scout.