SLO County city awards $100,000 grant to expand warming shelter. Here’s how it could work
Homeless residents of the Five Cities may soon have a new place to keep warm at night.
At its Tuesday meeting, the Arroyo Grande City Council voted 5-0 to approve a $100,000 grant to the 5Cities Homeless Coalition from the city’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act funding in an effort to bolster the organization’s winter shelter program.
The $100,000 grant can help the 5CHC keep its winter shelter program running for the next two years, along with a mix of other funding streams, 5CHC executive director Janna Nichols told The Tribune.
With that funding in place, 5CHC will settle its warming shelter program at a permanent location sometime this winter season, a change from the past eight years of temporary host locations, Nichols said.
“We are working to try to find a permanent location so that we’re not moving around every year, wondering where we’re going to be,” Nichols said. “This year, we will be in at least two locations, as we’re still trying to find a permanent site that will be ready for the coming season.”
Why is a permanent warming shelter needed?
Supporting South County’s shelter services was introduced as a city goal in October 2021, when the City Council directed $300,000 of the city’s $4.3 million ARPA funds toward supporting shelter programs.
For the past eight years, the 5CHC has operated the program at a series of paid and volunteer locations, including several local churches, Nichols said.
The number of nights the warming shelter program operated has fluctuated each year based on need, with the program sheltering individuals on 58 nights last winter, compared to just 18 nights during the winter of 2021, Nichols said.
In past years, 5CHC warming shelters have typically hosted around 20 homeless individuals each night.
The winter shelter is only made available between November and March when temperatures drop below 38 degrees, or when there is a 50% chance of rain or higher, Nichols said.
5CHC provides transportation to and from the shelter location in the morning and evening, she said.
People who stay at the warming shelter receive dry clothes, a warm meal and a place to sleep, though in the past, the shelter only provided these services at night, Nichols said.
“This new location will allow us to stay open on days where the rain is really still coming down,” Nichols said. “We’re excited that if we were able to finally get a permanent location and settle the site, then there are some other opportunities of things that we might do with the building.”
One such opportunity under consideration is using the permanent location year-round as a recuperative care facility for homeless folks recovering from injury or illness who don’t need hospitalization but need a place to recover, Nichols said.
Nichols said this is another homeless resource in short supply throughout the county.
With the exception of a handful of recuperative beds provided by the Center for Family Strengthening in Atascadero and a few beds at 40 Prado Homeless Services Center, San Luis Obispo County largely lacks a space for homeless individuals to recover from their health conditions outside of the hospital, she said.
“If (unhoused people) don’t have a place to heal, then they are chronically dealing with whatever their illness or injury might be,” Nichols said. “There’s a lot of benefit for the medical system in keeping folks out of the hospital and keeping folks out of a skilled nursing facility, and oftentimes there aren’t beds available anyway.”
Nichols said some successful recuperative care models also include some low-level medical care from an onsite nurse, though that depends on the size and capacity of the shelter.
That secondary use has not been settled, though, and the facility could be used in a variety of other ways, Nichols said.
What’s next for the warming shelter?
A site for the permanent shelter has been identified, but Nichols said that location would be revealed once the scope of the shelter’s uses were finalized.
Neighbors living near the site location will be notified of the shelter’s presence once the location is made public, she said.
Until then, Nichols said the program will continue as it has in previous years, operating in a temporary home until a permanent location is ready to open.
This story was originally published September 28, 2023 at 10:25 AM.
