Cabin village to provide shelter for 80 homeless residents in SLO. Here’s the plan
A new homeless response project aims to move up to 80 people out of encampments and off the streets of San Luis Obispo into a village of cabins as a first step toward finding permanent housing.
The Welcome Home Village project, which could break ground as soon as this fall and open in 2025, is planned at the county’s Health Agency Campus at the intersection of Bishop Street and Johnson Avenue, according to a joint news release from San Luis Obispo County’s homeless services division and the city of San Luis Obispo.
Cut from a similar mold as projects such as the Five Cities Homeless Coalition’s Cabins for Change project in Grover Beach, the project is intended to provide stability to unhoused people while they work toward a permanent housing solution.
“Facilities like Welcome Home Village have demonstrated success in relocating individuals from encampments and off the streets across the state,” Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg said in the news release. “I am acutely aware of the importance of having the Welcome Home Village come to my district and my own neighborhood.”
What can the Welcome Home Village do for unhoused people?
Each individual housed in the Welcome Home Village will have their own unit, with access to laundry facilities, kitchens, and in some cases, private bathrooms.
Once individuals are signed up for the site, they will have access to individualized case management, basic medical care, mental health assessments, substance abuse treatment services, wellness activities, education and self-improvement opportunities, social-emotional skill building and job readiness training.
“Tackling homelessness is a top priority for the city of San Luis Obispo, and this project and program is an important part of our strategic plan to address homelessness,” San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart said in the release. “We need to reduce the number of homeless encampments along the Bob Jones Bike Trail by providing our most vulnerable neighbors with a place to call home and also clean up the area so that all community members can use it as originally intended. We are so grateful to the county and the San Luis Obispo community for their ongoing support.”
In the months leading up to the project opening, unhoused residents will be identified by outreach teams, starting with people living on the Bob Jones Trail and surrounding creekbeds, according to the release.
San Luis Obispo’s homelessness response team has been reaching out to people living along the Bob Jones Trail and in the surrounding creekbeds since 2015 and will expand outreach efforts in that area in the months leading up to the village opening, according to the project’s website.
An outreach team led by Good Samaritan Shelter will also provide in-field case management and behavioral health intervention where needed, along with housing navigation, the release said.
County behavioral health staff will provide psychiatric support to the project and surrounding area, and the South Higuera Street area will also be prioritized by police patrols, according to the website.
The city will focus on trash and debris removal from the local riparian ecosystem, and will install portable restrooms and bear-proof trash cans along the trail, according to the website.
Who will live at Welcome Home Village?
The village will be comprised of an interim supportive housing program and a permanent supportive housing program that will help people in different housing situations.
The 90-day interim program will aim to first stabilize clients before pursuing permanent housing, with extensions permitted under some circumstances, according to the website.
The permanent supportive program will provide a long-term and stable housing option for residents in need of long-term rental assistance and supportive services.
Residents of the permanent supportive housing will likely include the elderly, those with mental or physical disabilities and people that need supportive housing services for a longer period of time than provided in the interim housing program, according to the website.
Registered sex offenders will not be enrolled in the program, according to the website.
On top of these integrated support services, the Welcome Home Village’s placement near county behavioral health facilities can offer a wider range of services to residents, San Luis Obispo County deputy director of adult and homeless services Linda Belch said in the release.
“Locating these projects near intensive services is something we’ve seen be successful in other communities such as Santa Maria and Grover Beach,” Belch said. “The integration of the Welcome Home Village into the Health Agency Campus is the perfect opportunity to replicate that success in San Luis Obispo.”
Project set to operate through 2026
The Welcome Home Village is funded through June 2026 by a $13.4 million Encampment Resolution Fund grant from the California Interagency Council on Homelessness received in the summer of 2023, according to the project website.
The grant funds will be used to build the structures and develop the site for around $9.64 million, with the rest of the funds going to administration, village operations and outreach, according to the website.
Beyond June 2026, the site will cost approximately $1.85 million each year to operate. County staff are looking at funding sources that can keep the project going after the initial grant money runs out.
Neighbors and community members will have an opportunity to express their thoughts on the project and get more information at an community meeting on Wednesday, May 1, at 6 p.m.
People can register for the event at the project’s website or at bit.ly/3vZSoqt.
The project will be further reviewed by the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors on May 21, according to the release.
Site development and construction can start this fall if the project is approved, the release said, with the first program residents being accepted in 2025.
