New project will give studio apartments to SLO’s unhoused population. Here’s how it will work
Transitions-Mental Health Association will open a new space for homeless people living with mental health issues in San Luis Obispo in the coming year.
TMHA will begin renovation on an existing building at 1118 Palm St. — which is categorized as a historical property — soon, with the goal of completing the project by September 2023.
Under the TMHA’s Housing NOW program, participants will have access to their own studio apartment. The program has a “housing first” philosophy to provides stable housing before seeking to resolve other issues that homeless people face.
“You put (unhoused people) into housing, no questions asked, and then let them stabilize and then start to figure out what is it that they need,” Michael Kaplan, TMHA’s community engagement director, said. “The jail nights disappear, and the trips to the emergency room go way, way, way down. You are saving the city money — that investment is totally worthwhile.”
With the property already purchased, Kaplan said TMHA can expect another $2 million in state funding alongside $300,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the renovations.
“One of the things that I really like to tell our private donors is, ‘Hey, for every dollar you donate to a project like Palm Street Studios, we’re matching it with four or five dollars from other grants from the state, from the county, from the city,” Kaplan said.
The total funding for the purchase and renovation of the property was $2,984,741, Kaplan said.
What will new homeless housing project look like?
Palm Street Studios will consist of an office room with eight housing units: six studio apartments inside the existing structure and two accessory dwelling units on the property to come at a later date.
Louisa Smith, the project’s architect, said designing the new dwelling inside a historical property presented some unique challenges.
“Our requirements were that we had to basically maintain the building, at least on the outside,” Smith said. “We pretty much gutted the inside.”
The building was once a residential home, Smith said, but it had been used as a boarding house and later, an office building.
Now, the building is returning to its residential roots.
Smith said the current building was constructed in two phases, and housing units will be divided accordingly.
Four units will be constructed within the original structure, with the other two fitting in the two-story addition and two ADUs under construction in the backyard. All eight units will be accessible via their own entrances, with laundry facilities on-site.
This is not Smith’s first collaboration with TMHA — she’s collaborated with the organization multiple times over 30 years.
That long history of collaboration, she said, made getting the necessary grants for the project easy.
“The city of San Luis Obispo has just been fabulous,” Smith said.
The remodeling process will begin in January 2023, and the ADUs will be installed by August 2023.
Why is TMHA shifting to permanent housing?
Kaplan said TMHA can do more with a non-congregate living space for unhoused people like at Palm Street because of the flexibility owning a property can provide.
“Whenever we own the property, we can do some really, really nice upgrades that just improve the quality of life for our clients,” he said. “It’s all just a question of being able to move fast in this kind of market.”
Providing single-studio units as permanent housing for unhoused people is part of an ideological shift away from larger, more public shelters that offer less permanence and security.
Kaplan said this permanent housing strategy has its drawbacks, like losing some of the incentive for unhoused people to move into permanent living of their own, but this approach might work better for getting clients the care they need.
“The objective is to move them in, start offering them services — both primary care, behavioral health care (and) opportunities to work if they’re looking for that,” he said. “(We) see what it is that they need to continue living there successfully.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
