Welcome Home Village set to join SLO County Health Agency campus 

San Luis Obispo County's proposed Welcome Home Village temporary housing project found a new home after its former South Higuera location proved to be troublesome.

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• Photo Courtesy Of SLO County Department Of Social Services
• MODEL BEHAVIOR SLO County's Welcome Home Village will look similar to Hope Village (pictured)—a Santa Maria project set up by DignityMoves and Good Samaritan that opened in March.

Originally reserved for a county-owned gravel lot behind the Department of Social Services headquarters on Higuera Street in the city of SLO, the 80-bed shelter program will now join the county's Health Agency campus along Johnson Avenue.

The move, which the county announced on April 26, comes months after Los Angeles attorney Paul Beard II wrote a critical letter to the Board of Supervisors about a reported lack of consultation with several concerned South Higuera business and property owners. Beard's letter also called for a thorough environmental review and informed the supervisors that the county isn't eligible for a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption because the Welcome Home Village project on Higuera Street was inconsistent with SLO's zoning designation.

"The county of San Luis Obispo did not pursue a project at the South Higuera Street location because the underlying zoning for the project prohibited residential use altogether," Homeless Services Division spokesperson Suzie Freeman said. "The time and resources needed to change the property's zoning and prepare an environmental impact report for the project did not fit within the Encampment Resolution Fund's deadlines and, therefore, the county pursued other locations."

The Welcome Home Village project faced a time constraint too. The $13.4 million Encampment Resolution Fund dedicated to the project must be used up before it expires in 2026. By switching to the Health Agency campus location, the county sidestepped meeting Beard's demands. Freeman added that the new space doesn't require a CEQA review.

"The zoning for this location allows for supportive housing and the state has established various exemptions from CEQA review for properties like this one in order for agencies to establish supportive housing," she said.

According to the county, Welcome Home Village's inclusion in the Health Agency campus brings it closer to behavioral health resources like the crisis stabilization unit, substance misuse disorder clinic, and mental health treatment services.

The project models itself after successful transitional housing programs like 5Cities Homeless Coalition's Cabins for Change and DignityMoves' noncongregate housing in downtown Santa Barbara. DignityMoves will design the modular homes for Welcome Home Village, developing 34 interim- and 46 permanent-supportive housing units.

"Like those two communities, each person participating in the Welcome Home Village program will be working with their assigned case worker to actively pursue self-sufficiency and stable housing," Freeman said.

While the county hasn't established a waitlist for Welcome Home Village yet, Santa Maria-based nonprofit Good Samaritan Shelter will identify program participants and will also provide site management and resident services. The project will provide priority placement to the homeless community members living in the Bob Jones Bike Trail encampment corridor.

The county anticipates an ongoing annual cost of $1.9 million for maintaining Welcome Home Village after the encampment resolution fund sunsets in June 2026. County staff is working on identifying other funding sources to sustain the project from then on. Δ