A new family shelter in Barrio Logan is open and will soon take in families relocated from the Golden Hall Bridge Shelter, it was announced Friday.
"The opening of this shelter for families experiencing homelessness is an important part of our comprehensive shelter strategy and the latest step in our wide-ranging approach toward addressing homelessness in San Diego," said Mayor Todd Gloria, who announced the new shelter Friday along with members of the San Diego Housing Commission. "This facility is a major upgrade over the congregate shelter at Golden Hall. Forty-two unhoused families will now have private rooms — a far better living environment, especially for children."
Since 2019, Father Joe's Villages operated the upper level of Golden Hall as a temporary shelter. The entirety of the hall was converted to a shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic, making it the largest homeless shelter in the region, providing at one time 534 beds, including 18 cribs. It supported families, transition-age youth and single men experiencing homelessness.
“The transition aged youth at Golden Hall have already left that facility and are at other locations in our city. The families will now relocate here,” Gloria told KPBS, referring to the new shelter in Barrio Logan.
While the city has started enforcing its new unsafe camping ordinance, the root issue of much of the street homelessness in San Diego is a lack of affordable housing and shelter beds.
Gloria said that lack of availability is why Golden Hall hasn’t fully closed down yet.
“The single adults are the remaining population we have to work with there and we're working on them right now," the mayor said.
The new shelter — a former motel in Barrio Logan — will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. According to the city, residents will receive supportive services such as case management and help to locate permanent or longer-term housing, childcare and employment. The program will also provide basic services, such as three meals per day, private restrooms, laundry facilities, telephone access, messaging services and mail services.
"These unhoused families need our help. That is why this shelter program is so important," said SDHC Vice Chair Ryan Clumpner. "This shelter program for families is one step in a comprehensive approach to provide shelter and housing options to meet the unique needs of unhoused residents."
The housing commission is contracting with Alpha Project to operate the family shelter program while the city's Homelessness Strategies and Solutions Department administers the site lease.
“There'll be 42 families in total, with 51 children. So for us, we're super excited about it,” Alpha Project CEO Bob McElroy said. “To have gone through every room and painted everything — my donors, God bless them — they bought TVs for every room, mini fridges for every room.”
Total costs approach $2.5 million, consisting of a combination of the city general fund and community development block grant funds, to support shelter operations.
Gloria told KPBS the city’s goal is to wrap up operations at Golden Hall by fall of this year and move the single adult population to other shelters.
