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VISIT HEYSOCAL.COM
MONDAY, MARCH 23-MARCH 29, 2026
VOL. 12,
NO. 268
State grants $10M to San Bernardino area for housing, homeless services
This DHS official oversees the security of federal elections. He wants to ban voting machines.
By Joe Taglieri
By Doug Bock Clark, ProPublica
joet@beaconmedianews.com
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he San Bernardino area is receiving another $10 million in state funding to address homelessness and expand housing options, officials said Thursday. San Bernardino County, the city of San Bernardino and the local Continuum of Care, or CoC will receive the sizable grant from the state’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention program through from the California Department of Housing and Community Development. A key portion of the funds will go toward expanding permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness and bolstering initiatives intended to prevent homelessness. The funding will support converting underutilized buildings and existing interim housing into permanent housing, officials said. The state grant will also support services such as street outreach, intensive case management, housing navigation, harm reduction services, rental assistance, security deposits and other programs intended to help prevent homelessness and support county residents who have no place to stay. “This funding is an important investment in our comprehensive approach to addressing homelessness,” county Board of Supervisors Vice Chair and 5th District Supervisor Joe Baca Jr., who also chairs the county’s CoC Board. “It will expand permanent housing for people who need it most while also strengthening prevention efforts so fewer people fall into homelessness. Ultimately, these resources will help San Bernardino County and its partners better support individuals
This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive The Big Story newsletter as soon as it’s published.
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District 5 county Supervisor Joe Baca Jr. and a member of the Sheriff’s Department speak with a person experiencing homelessness during the 2026 point-in-time-count in January. | Photo courtesy of San Bernardino County
and families on the path to stable housing,” Baca said. The county, city and CoC, which is comprised of city, county and nonprofit representatives, submitted a joint application to secure the state funds. “We are grateful to our city and community partners for joining us in this effort,” the county’s Office of Homeless Services Chief Marcus Dillard said in a statement. “This partnership allows us to make a real difference in providing housing and support to San Bernardino County’s most vulnerable residents.” Staffers from San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran’s office participated in community meetings that helped shape the grant application, and she emphasized the importance of collaboration. “These funds will directly improve lives across our community and help more families achieve stability,” Tran said in a statement. “The city of San
Bernardino is proud to be a partner with the county and local organizations on this effort.” CoC Vice Chair Shanikqua “Shaq” Freeman, executive director of the nonprofit Knowledge and Education for Your Success, noted the impact this funding will have on local residents who need housing assistance. “This award is a result of strong collaboration between the county, city partners and local organizations,” Freeman said in a statement. “These resources will help residents get the support they need and make meaningful progress toward independence.” Program Manager Za Zette Scott of the nonprofit Family Assistance Program, who also attended community meetings about the grant application, said the collaboration shows the shared commitment of local
governments and nonprofits to address homelessness. “This collaborative effort demonstrates how the county, city partners and nonprofits can work together to address complex community challenges,” Scott said in a statement. “By working together, we can create opportunities that help people rebuild their lives and strengthen our community as a whole.” According to the 2025 Point-in-Time Count, homelessness in San Bernardino County decreased by 10.2% compared with 2024. County officials attribute the drop to expanded outreach efforts and more state and federal funding aimed at reducing homelessness. Continued support through grants such as HHAP help sustain this progress, officials said. State officials announced more than $159.3 million in HHAP Round 6 funding March 2.
See Homeless services Page 31
n his top post at the Department of Homeland Security, David Harvilicz sets policy on protecting the nation’s elections infrastructure, including voting machines. He’s also the co-founder of a company with James Penrose, who helped hatch debunked conspiracy theories blaming hacked voting machines for Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election. Penrose assisted in a push to seize voting machines to overturn Trump’s defeat. On social media, Harvilicz has called for doing away with voting machines, saying they are “eminently vulnerable to exploitation.” In a March post, he wrote that “DHS needs to ban voting machines for all federal elections. The time is now.” He also has repeatedly questioned the validity of Democratic electoral victories and pushed for Republicans to overhaul electoral systems to their advantage. Election experts as well as current and former DHS officials say Harvilicz’s central role in overseeing the security of electoral systems and voting machines is especially concerning at a time when the administration is taking unprecedented steps to relitigate Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. That includes the FBI’s seizure of 2020 voting records from Fulton County, Georgia, and having a team working for Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, take custody of voting machines used in Puerto Rico in 2020. See Voting machines Page 03
“The security of our election infrastructure depends on leadership that is trusted, impartial and grounded in evidence — not individuals who have promoted conspiracy theories about the very systems they are now responsible for protecting,” said Danielle Lang, vice president for voting rights and the rule of law at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization. “Placing someone with that background in charge of policies affecting election security can undermine public confidence in our elections at a time when trust is already fragile.” DHS didn’t answer detailed questions about Harvilicz or his team, providing a more general statement about the work done by the agency. “DHS and its employees are focused on keeping our elections safe, secure, and free,” it said. “Every single day appointees at the Department of Homeland Security work to implement the President’s policies and keep our Homeland safe.” Harvilicz didn’t respond to questions about his DHS role. Harvilicz’s X account notes his post as DHS’ assistant secretary for cyber, infrastructure, risk and resilience policy but says he’s been detailed to the Defense Department. (Such temporary assignments are typically done in 120-day increments.) Harvilicz was appointed to the DHS job around July, taking on a role that in the past has largely focused on shaping policy to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure, including its election