This dataset is based on more than 100 public record requests by reporters Marisa Kendall and Lauren Hepler to the California Department of Housing and Community Development and local government agencies about Homekey projects awarded statewide through the end of 2024.
While some information about the initial awards and funding allocations are available, there is no public way to check the status of each of the taxpayer funded projects. CalMatters compiled what appears to be the first detailed look at the program.
If you are a local news partner interested in more details about projects in your region such as the addresses, please feel free to reach out.
CalMatters asked each Homekey awardee if their project(s) had completed construction by Dec 31, 2025. Some awardees gave certificates of occupancy dates which could be later. CalMatters deemed a project late if the given completion date was after the standard one-year construction deadline from award date that appeared on state forms, except for projects that planned to convert from interim to permanent housing which have different deadlines. If the awardee gave a month or broader estimate instead of a completion date, we used the last possible day for calculations (e.g. June 2025 → June 30, 2025; EOY 2024 → Dec 31, 2024).
The analysis excludes two projects awarded in 2025 and nine projects awarded to tribal applicants. CalMatters deemed a project “failed to materialize” if the state publicly announced its award but the project fell through.
Each row is a Homekey project.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| county |
County the project is located in |
| city |
City the project is located in |
| project_name |
Name of the project originally from the award announcement. Different entities may refer to each project by different names |
| project_applicant |
Primary applicant for the Homekey grant |
| status |
Based on CalMatters analysis as of Dec 31, 2025 (see above Methodology) |
| award_date |
Date that the state awarded the Homekey grant |
| total_hcd_award |
Grant money from the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which is usually not the full cost of the project |
| promised_units |
Homekey units promised in the project announcement. Each unit can house 1+ people depending on the type, so these numbers of units are not necessarily equivalent to the number of people a project can house. |
| final_units |
Number of units for completed projects if available. Includes manager if applicable, though some sources may not have included those. |
This repo contains data used in the following stories:
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