Dignity Village's Pandemic Funding Is Running Out

Alameda's Dignity Village, the 47-unit homeless housing site at 2350 Fifth Street, opened in 2023 on pandemic-era grants that are now running out, and city staff are bringing a long-term funding plan to a public board meeting on Thursday, Sept. 24.

• Where: 2350 Fifth Street, near Alameda Point
• What's happening: The state and county grants that built and ran Dignity Village were meant to be temporary, and they're expiring
• Who's presenting: C'Mone Falls, the city's Housing and Human Services Division Manager
• When: Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at 7 p.m., at the Social Service Human Relations Board meeting
• What's next: No funding decision yet. Staff are still weighing options for keeping the site open for the long term

What is Dignity Village?

It's a two-story complex of 47 small private rooms built to get people off the street fast. Each room has its own bathroom, and residents can bring their pets and lock their own door, more than a lot of shelters offer. The site houses up to 61 people, including units set aside for young adults who are homeless or close to it. Five Keys runs day-to-day operations and case management, a commitment the nonprofit made for at least five years after the May 2023 opening.

Why is Dignity Village's funding running out?

Dignity Village went up in about 14 months, paid for with $12.3 million from the state's Homekey program and $2.4 million from Alameda County. Homekey money came out of California's COVID-19 emergency response, meant to convert buildings into housing fast. That kind of funding was never built to last forever. The city's own staff report for the September 24 meeting puts it plainly: the funding that supported building and running the site "was intended to be temporary during and following the COVID-19 pandemic and has expired or will expire in the coming years." In other words, the money that got Dignity Village open is drying up, and there's no announced source for what replaces it.

What happens at the September 24 meeting?

Falls will walk Alameda's Social Service Human Relations Board through where things stand and what the city is weighing to keep Dignity Village financially sustainable. The written staff report filed ahead of the meeting doesn't spell out those options, so residents who want the specifics will need to attend or watch the meeting once it's posted online. The board meets at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, at Alameda City Hall, 2263 Santa Clara Ave.

What happens next

Dignity Village has been one of the city's biggest tools for getting people off the street since it opened, and Alameda's homeless count has dropped sharply in the years since. If the funding gap doesn't get closed, the city risks losing one of its main options for interim housing right when it's shown real results. Nothing shuts down on Sept. 24. This is a status update, not a vote. But it's the first public look at how Alameda plans to keep Dignity Village running once the pandemic money is gone for good, and it's worth watching alongside the rest of the city's community news this fall.