SLO County homeless shelter to receive major expansion
The Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County, which serves the region’s homeless population at its facility at 40 Prado Road, will be expanding its home base after closing escrow on the next-door property, the nonprofit announced on March 22.
With the purchase, it is CAPSLO’s first step in the plan to expand its campus and “offer more services for families experiencing homelessness.” CAPSLO serves over 25,000 people experiencing poverty throughout the Central Coast each year.
“There are more families who need help than we are able to accommodate,” Elizabeth Steinberg, CEO of CAPSLO, said in a press release.
“We can now take this site, which has a long history of health and safety violations in our community and use it to better serve families and children in need.”
Located at 46 Prado Road, plans are still in the early stages and a groundbreaking is not expected until at least 2025, CAPSLO said in a press release.
Plans are meant to include emergency shelter for families of varying size, along with indoor and outdoor recreation spaces, pet-friendly facilities, and office and mixed-use spaces for services like childcare and case management, according to the press release.
In the press release, CAPSLO noted that the number of homeless families in SLO County has more than doubled to more than 120 from 2017 to 2022, according to data from the 2022 Point-in-Time count for San Luis Obispo County, the most recent data available. Of those 120 homeless families, 62% are unsheltered.
Anecdotal evidence since then indicates the number is likely even higher in 2024. As such, the nonprofits aim is to expand all services to accommodate the growing number of people experiencing homelessness.
CAPSLO paid for the $1.3 million property using donation money received in late 2022 from the Bezos Day One Families Fund, which awarded the nonprofit $5 million to spend specifically on assisting families experiencing homelessness.
CAPSLO has also received a grant from the State of California Department of Toxic Substances Control of just over $700,000 to remodel the site and help prepare it.
“The property has so much potential,” Lawren Ramos, community services program director, said in a press release. “Our site at 40 Prado has been an ideal location within the city, but the fact is we have run out of land to build or expand. The need for temporary shelter is just too great to fit everything we need to do.”
