City Homekey & Rapid Response Homeless Housing (R2H2) Program
The City of Oakland Department of Housing and Community Development (City) seeks proposals for the creation of permanent, interim, or transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness through a Request for Proposals (City Homekey RFP). Homekey and R2H2 provide funding for permanent, interim, or transitional housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
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Rapid Response Homeless Housing Program (R2H2)
The City has established the Rapid Response Homeless Housing (R2H2) Program. The R2H2 Program will accept proposals similar in nature to Homekey serving individuals and families who are homeless. These proposals will go through a threshold review process to ensure that there is site control, sponsor and/or partner experience to execute on a development, and that there is a plan for funding the development of the property, the ongoing operation of the building, and the delivery of supportive services to the residents.
Once a proposal has met the thresholds, a full application will be requested and reviewed by staff on a periodic, competitive basis. Local funding would be committed to projects based on competitive scoring that will prioritize readiness to house people experiencing homelessness, cost efficiency, and strength of the sponsor and partners to complete the development, manage the properties in a professional manner, and deliver services that ensure positive outcomes for residents.
Oakland's Homekey and R2H2 Programs aim to quickly increase housing options for residents experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless.
Homekey funds are awarded to localities by the State of California's Department of Housing and Community Development, a resource developed to sustain and rapidly expand housing for persons experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness due to the COVID-19 crisis. After three rounds of awards from 2021-2023, the State of California Program continues as Homekey+. Oakland established R2H2 to support and extend these efforts with local funding.
Oakland was awarded over $98 million to provide 448 units of supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness in Rounds 1, 2, and 3 of Homekey from 2021 to 2023, in partnership with local developers. Eight projects involve the acquisition and conversion of motels and multifamily buildings, and one is a modular new construction development on a City-owned vacant lot that will break ground in 2024.
The R2H2 Program has awarded funds to one additional project to add transitional housing capacity for 20 homeless youth, with five additional projects under review as of fall 2024.
Homekey project proposals are submitted by the City in partnership with private developers. The application period for the fourth round of Homekey funding, now called Homekey+, is closed with three projects under review. R2H2 is accepting applications on a rolling basis.
Homekey Round 1 (2021): 3 awards, 142 Units
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Clifton Hall provides 42 permanent supportive housing units for chronically homeless seniors.
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Clifton Hall: ($10.1M, 41 units): Acquisition and conversion of a former dormitory in the Rockridge neighborhood into single room occupancy units of permanent supportive housing for seniors. In partnership with Satellite Affordable Housing Associates (SAHA). Occupancy began August 2021.
Inn at Temescal: ($3.5M, 21 units): Acquisition and conversion of a hotel at Telegraph and West MacArthur Blvd to provide permanent supportive housing for veterans. In partnership with Danco Communities. Occupancy began April 2021.
Project Reclamation: ($10M, 15 sites, 80 beds): Acquisition and conversion of single family homes to provide permanent supportive shared housing for 80 individuals. In partnership with Bay Area Community Services (BACS). Occupancy expected to begin late 2024.
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Homekey Round 2 (2022): 3 Awards, 114 Units
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Piedmont Place provides 44 studio units of permanent supportive housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness.
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Piedmont Place: ($14.9M, 44 units): Acquisition and conversion of a motel into permanent supportive housing for individuals. In partnership with MPI Homes and Bay Area Community Services. Occupancy began November 2022.
Kingdom Builder Transitional Housing Program: ($5.6M, 34 units): Rehabilitation of a Single Room Occupancy property for transitional housing serving formerly incarcerated adults and youth. In partnership with LJ Jennings. Property was fully leased as of December 2022.
Inn by the Coliseum: ($4.2M, 36 units): Acquisition and conversion of a motel into permanent supportive housing for individuals. In partnership with Danco Communities. Acquired January 2023. Occupancy expected to begin November 2024.
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Homekey Round 3 (2023): 3 awards, 192 Units
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The Imperial Inn will be converted to 104 studio units of permanent supportive housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
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Imperial Inn ($15.5M, 47 units): Acquisition and conversion of a motel into permanent supportive housing for individuals. In partnership with MPI Properties and Bay Area Community Services. Acquired September 2024. Occupancy expected to begin Spring 2025.
Dignity Village ($14.3M, 40 units): Modular new construction into permanent supportive housing for seniors on City-owned vacant land. In partnership with Dignity Moves and Housing Consortium of the East Bay (HCEB). Predevelopment began Spring 2024. Occupancy expected to begin Spring 2025.
Quality Inn ($20.3M, 104 units): Acquisition and conversion of a motel into studio units of permanent supportive housing for individuals. In partnership with California Supportive Housing. Acquired September 2024. Occupancy expected to begin Spring 2025.
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Rapid Response Homeless Housing (R2H2): 1 Award, Housing for 20 Residents
Covenant House ($1.2M, 20 beds): Additional 20 beds for youth at risk of homelessness or trafficking in an existing facility. In partnership with Covenant House. Project completion and occupancy expected to begin June 2025.
Five additional R2H2 proposals are currently under review.
About the City of Oakland Homekey & R2H2 Request for Proposals (RFP)
As of May 31, 2025, the Homekey application is CLOSED and applications are no longer being accepted; however, we appreciate your interest and inquiry.
Applicants are encouraged to submit project proposals using the R2H2 Program, which is an ongoing program.
Please contact our Housing Development Manager, Shalawn Garcia (sgarcia3@oaklandca.gov), or Housing Development Coordinator, Xochitl Ortiz (xoritz@oaklandca.gov) with any questions.
R2H2 RFP
Please Note: For this funding opportunity, all applications must be submitted through City Data Services (CDS), the City's on-line database system for affordable housing funding. Paper applications will not be accepted.
To access CDS, please visit https://www.citydataservices.net/, and enter “HOMEKEY2024” as both the username and password. This will bring you to a page where you can create a unique user account/password and begin work on your application.
Read the Homekey Round 4 & R2H2 RFP(PDF, 385KB)
Read the Homekey Round 4 & R2H2 RFP: Part Two(PDF, 766KB)
Seller and Sponsor Lists
In order to share information on potential properties and sponsors, the City is accepting Seller and Sponsor Expression of Interest forms. The City will update these responses periodically.
Sponsor Expression of Interest Form Responses(XLSX, 11KB)- Updated 11/21/22 (Please note these responses include submissions from previous RFP's. If you no longer wish to be included please contact us.)
2023-2025 RFP Timeline
- November 30, 2023
- City of Oakland Homekey & R2H2 RFP released
- Wednesday, December 13, 2023
- Wednesday, January 24, 2024 12:30-1:30pm
- Thursday, February 29, 2024- 4:00PM
- City of Oakland Homekey RFP responses due to City if proposal wishes to be considered as co-applicant with City for Homekey 4.
- Tuesday, March 5, 2024- 10:00am
- R2H2 Office Hours
- City of Oakland HCD Staff were present to answer any application questions for the Rapid Response Homeless Housing (R2H2) program.
- Tuesday, March 12, 2024- 10:00am
- R2H2 Office Hours
- City of Oakland HCD Staff will be present to answer any application questions for the Rapid Response Homeless Housing (R2H2) program.
- April 1, 2024
- City informs Applicants whether they have met threshold requirements. If threshold requirements are met, a Full Application will be requested.
- July 12 2024- 4:00pm - Full Application Due
- Full application proposals to the Homekey Round 4 and R2H2 RFP due to the City.
- November 2024
- State Homekey NOFA released
- March 2025
- City and sponsors submit Homekey applications to State. Recommended Homekey applications and funding requests presented to City Council.
- June 2025
- State awards Homekey funding through NOFA process
- November 2025
- Revised R2H2 RFP to be released.
2021 & 2022 City Homekey RFP (closed) Archive
An archive of the Homekey 2.0 & Homekey 3.0 City of Oakland RFP/RFQ materials is located in the link below:
2021 Homekey RFP/RFQ (Archived Information)