El Camino Homeless Organization has done away with its nightly stays and now only offers a 90-day shelter program for those in north San Luis Obispo County.
The nonprofit’s operators say they’ve found that three months of secure shelter gives residents a higher chance of finding permanent housing—but some locals aren’t convinced, arguing that the model only serves a specific homeless population.
Wendy Lewis, CEO of the El Camino Homeless Organization (ECHO), said that the 90-day program operates under the nonprofit’s belief that everyone deserves housing, even if they have been “chronically unhoused” and that providing shelter for a longer period sets them up for success in the long run.
“That’s where we saw that having someone be able to stay in their bed—stay in the shelter for at least 90 days—have access to their own bed, leave their belongings, go out and have productive day of working, getting the things that they need to do in place to get back into housing,” she said, “we saw that change from night by night, about 10 percent of the people were able to get back into housing. Our 90-day program has a success rate of 60 percent.”
But ECHO’s intentions were debated earlier this summer when the Paso Robles City Council reviewed its remaining payment for the year to the nonprofit on Aug. 19, which it’s contributed annually since 2022.
That night, the nonprofit also requested that the city approve the facility’s move to a fully 90-day model by Sept. 5, doing away with its lottery for nightly stays after CEO Lewis said the shelter was having to turn nearly 25 people away each night.
Disgruntled business owners spoke during that August meeting, upset about those who would loiter in the neighborhood after they hadn’t received a bed in the shelter’s nightly lottery.
Resident Linda George told the council that ECHO’s claims of the program’s success was like “putting lipstick on a pig,” and she disagreed that the nightly stays should be discontinued.
She said that she saw the 90-day program as more of a “sober-living facility” that catered to a specific population, as opposed to those who live in the riverbed and who often used the nightly shelter beds.
“I don’t think this is what the city intended this to be,” she said. “The people in the riverbed already feel like second-class citizens to the way ECHO is set up.”
George said that those in the riverbed need a place to go, too.
“If you want to help the homeless, you help the homeless, don’t say it’s too hard. You were not successful with that population. Well, become successful; it’s that simple,” she said. “Don’t dwindle down the riverbed to zero beds because you heard the local business owners.”
ECHO CEO Lewis told New Times that there are some common misconceptions about the nonprofit’s work with the riverbed population.
“We, as an organization, believe that everybody wants housing. Maybe in what they’re dealing with currently, they might not be ready for housing,” she said. “That’s one of our big roles is to not only have our shelter program and the 90-day program, but many of the other resources for people to help them build trust with us and with society and the community again.”
She said that ECHO’s dinner, shower, and outreach case management programs are available to anyone who faces housing or food insecurity.
“We believe that everyone deserves housing, and that’s why we’re there for [riverbed residents] in checking in as often as we can in our outreach programs. Our outreach case managers say sometimes they’ll have a conversation with someone 20, 30, 40 times. And each time they’re building more of a connection, more trust,” Lewis said. “It takes many times with certain people because it’s just where they’re at at that moment. They’re not ready, but our role is to help as many people as possible be ready for those next steps forward.”
Lewis said that ECHO is a “low barrier” shelter, meaning it reduces the impediments that would keep people from seeking its resources. This includes adding more beds and not requiring any breathalyzer or drug tests before being admitted to the shelter.
“We don’t require them to be clean and sober before they have the opportunity for the shelter program because it is so much harder to get clean and sober if you do not have the support system,” Lewis said. “ECHO provides the safety of your bed and a case manager who’s going to connect you to resources that can help you with that sober path.”
The shelter is not a sober-living facility, despite public comment, Lewis said, and ECHO removes residents if their behavior disrupts the organization’s mission.
“We’re all trained in trauma-informed care and different de-escalation processes to really support people. Depending on the behavior, there could be just a coaching opportunity where it’s an opportunity to have a conversation that says, ‘We saw you on this really positive path, but we’ve seen changes in your behavior,’” she said. “But the reality of our work, of our 130 beds, we have about 40 children with us each night, and, you know, the wide gamut of people seeking our services.
“So really, behavior and safety are the core of what we need to do and make sure everybody has the safest stay possible.”
If someone is asked to leave, Lewis said, they can seek services again in the future.
“We do believe in second, third, fourth chances,” she said. “Because the people we’re helping, they’re struggling, and they’re in some really tough spots, and sometimes that can bring up all those behaviors that really aren’t what we’re looking for. And so we really have a lot of things in our toolbox to navigate that and have that conversation, and hopefully that person does come back and access the services.”
Paso Robles Mayor John Hamon voted in favor of ECHO’s transition on Aug. 19 and told New Times he’s for any program that shows positive results when it comes to homelessness.
“ECHO’s 90-day program has shown the highest results to date, and I am happy that my colleagues have also agreed to a change in our agreement to allow more beds to be used for that program rather than the night-to-night lottery program,” he said via email. “The 90-day program creates a framework to allow the individual to achieve higher goals for themselves.”
There are now 130 beds for the 90-day program between both ECHO facilities in Atascadero and Paso Robles. ∆
Reach Staff Writer Libbey Hanson at lhanson@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Autumn Arts Annual 2025.
ECHO deserves the highest accolades for its work with the homeless population. Semantics aside about what the new arrangement entails, the bottom line is that the homeless will be better served.