Governor addresses homeless housing for former foster youth, Pac-12 football

Gov. Newsom on Wednesday announced that the state is awarding more than $3 million to to the city of El Centro to build 13 tiny home duplexes in partnership with Imperial Valley College and the Imperial Valley College Foundation to house 26 homeless students who are former foster youth. The project is part of $76 million in first-round awards through the state’s “Homekey” program that aims to purchase and rehabilitate housing for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

Newsom also said he has been in conversation with Larry Scott, Commissioner of the Pacific-12 football conference, regarding the state’s guidance for college football. He said that nothing in the guidance prevents college football from resuming, but it does restrict practices to groups of 12 players and also requires them to be tested periodically.

And Newsom delivered an unequivocal “no” in response to a question about whether the state would allow San Diego County to exclude San Diego State University students from its Covid-19 testing metrics in determining where the county falls in the state’s four-tiered, color-coded monitoring system. He noted that the college students are part of the community spread. If San Diego County, which is currently in the red tier, exceeds the metrics to remain in that tier for one more week, it will move into the most restrictive purple tier on Sept. 23, said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the state’s Health and Human Services Department.