Riverside County and the city of Corona want to turn a vacant hotel off the 91 Freeway into 52 units of supportive housing for homeless people.
Money to convert the former Ayres Lodge & Suites Corona West property on Frontage Road into Vista Dorada was part of $181 million in home key funding announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office Tuesday, March 15. The county is getting $12 million for the project through Homekey, a state program giving grants to local governments for homeless housing.
Another $30 million from Homekey will help Redlands turn the former Good Nite Inn into 98 housing units.
Besides housing, Vista Dorada will offer services to help homeless individuals get back on their feet. That could be mental health services, medical care, education or employment help.
“This project is a keystone to the continuous efforts by the county and city teams to transition people from living on the street and into housing,” county spokesperson Brooke Federico said via email. “Permanent housing is a critical part of both the county and city of Corona’s homeless strategic plans.”
Karen Roper, Corona’s homeless solutions manager, said via email that the city “is truly thankful to the state and the county for providing the financial resources to make this positive solution a reality.”
The project came about after Abode Communities, an affordable housing developer, approached the county about converting the former Ayres site, Corona spokesperson Cindy Solis said in an email. After that, the county approached the city about working together on Vista Dorada, she said.
Because the hotel is in good shape, renovations are expected to take a few months with housing becoming available in winter, Solis said.
The project is in a commercial zone “that is primarily surrounded by (the freeway) and businesses,” Solis said, adding there are homes nearby in an unincorporated area.
The hotel is just off the freeway, west of Paseo Grande and northeast of Green River Road on the city’s western end. Coronita Elementary School is a little less than 1 mile away.
Vista Dorada will have 52 supportive housing units and one manager unit.
The county last year ticketed Homekey money to turn warehouse space in Palm Springs into supportive homeless housing. Homekey grew out of the state’s Project Roomkey initiative, which put homeless people who were especially at risk from COVID-19 at hotels.
With the worsening pandemic California’s housing crisis, the county has stepped up its homeless outreach. For the first time, homeless people counted in the county’s annual “point in time” homeless count in February were offered shelter and other helpand the county plans to use federal coronavirus relief money on housing and homeless services.
