Supervisors extend shelter crisis to boost temporary housing 

San Luis Obispo County's number of emergency shelter beds isn't keeping up with its surging rate of homelessness.

The disproportion prompted the Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12 to unanimously extend the shelter crisis declaration for an additional year. The declaration relaxes state and/or local rules surrounding building, fire, and health and safety standards to set up temporary emergency shelters more easily.

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• Map Courtesy Of Homeless Services Division
• PROPPED UP Poised to open in 2024, the 80-bed Welcome Home Village project on Higuera Street will benefit from SLO County redeclaring a shelter crisis, which will temporarily relax building, health, and safety codes. 

The crisis declaration only applies to homeless accommodations on property owned or leased by the county. The extended order will cover the county until Dec. 31, 2024.

Laurel Weir, administrative services manager for the county Department of Social Services' Homeless Services Division, told supervisors that the number of local sheltered homeless people rose from 292 in 2022 to 376 in 2023. The biannual 2022 Point-In-Time Count found 1,156 unsheltered people in the county. Weir added that the next Point-In-Time Count will take place on Jan. 23—unless it rains, in which case, the county has a backup date.

"In the current year, HMIS [Homeless Management Information System] data and other information from local providers also indicates the number of people coming into Homeless Services this year far exceeds the number of beds," she said on Dec. 12.

One of the places experiencing that need is 5Cities Homeless Coalition's Cabins for Change project in Grover Beach. The service temporarily places people in individual cabins while they work with providers to transition into permanent housing. Cabins for Change has seen a success rate of more than 70 percent of participants eventually moving into stable housing, but Weir said that more than 200 individuals are on a wait list for a 200-bed project slated for the future.

Suzie Freeman, the Homeless Services Division's spokesperson, told New Times that Cabins for Change will eventually benefit from the emergency shelter redeclaration. It will help to continue running the 20-bed program located on county-owned land while also exploring options to create new shelters within the county's jurisdiction.

Cabins for Change is currently developing a new 30-bed shelter on land owned by Grover Beach and is working on securing a permanent location in Arroyo Grande for its winter warming center.

Freeman said the redeclaration will also help the Welcome Home Village project that's set to open in 2024. The relaxed standards can aid with running and expanding the 80-bed Higuera Street program that's already facing a time crunch on its $13.4 million grant fund set to expire in three years.

Supervisors acknowledged the need for redeclaration of the crisis, with 4th District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding highlighting other efforts to ease roadblocks for future building projects.

"We are working with our representatives through California State Association of Counties to seek legislation that would help approve projects on county-owned property that have been historically stopped using environmental regulations and environmental laws," Paulding said. "It goes in tandem with this effort." Δ