A recently-released grand jury report on homelessness in San Luis Obispo County criticized the county’s plan to reduce homelessness by 50% — saying barriers like organizational challenges, zoning laws and NIMBYism have all prevented the county from addressing the issue adequately.
Released Tuesday, the grand jury report concluded it was difficult to tell whether the county’s plan was working because it “lacks quantifiable goals” to add housing.
While around 130 of the 300 beds called for in the first three years of the plan were in the pipeline as of the time of the report, the grand jury was unable to confirm whether the county was on track to meet that goal by the August 2025 deadline, citing several challenges that could jeopardize a crucial component of getting people off of the streets.
“The issues of homelessness and affordable housing are intertwined,” the report read. “First, to successfully transition the unhoused, there must be permanent housing options available to them. Second, affordable housing is necessary to prevent people from becoming unhoused.”
According to the report, the county’s urgent need to build interim housing and increase shelter capacity has often ground to a halt in the face of strict zoning rules and public backlash, allowing time to delay or kill projects altogether.
“Many public officials advised that the ‘Not In My Backyard’ (NIMBY) issue poses a significant challenge,” the report read. “When proposed shelter sites emerge, local residents often express resistance due to potential impacts on property values, safety, crime and neighborhood aesthetics.”
The report added that those “these concerns often have merit,” certain projects and organizations like Cabins for Change and the El Camino Homeless Organization (ECHO) have demonstrated “that well-managed shelter housing can be successfully integrated as part of a neighborhood.”
Funding, organizational issues and public support pose challenge
In its report, the grand jury found the county’s five-year plan has suffered setbacks as a result of several factors — some within and others outside of the county’s control.
A lack of predictable, stable funding year-to-year for homeless programs and nonprofits meant the agencies the county relies on to implement many of its homelessness goals are often stretched thin, the jury found.
The three major homeless service nonprofits — the Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo, ECHO and the 5Cities Homeless Coalition — are all highly reliant on grants and donations, the report found.
ECHO gets 46% of its funding from state and federal grants, while fundraising makes up 7%, the report found.
5CHC is largely reliant on government contracts, which make up 99% of the organization’s revenue, while its support fund consists of a more diversified set of government grants, contributions and donations, according to the report.
CAPSLO’s shelter, safe parking and warming center get 29% of funds from donations, 22% from federal funds, 21% from state funding, 20% from local jurisdictions and 8% from private CenCal Health partnerships, which fund recuperative care, the grand jury found.
Case management at CAPSLO gets 43% of its funding from CenCal, 34% from the federal government, 22% from the stat and 1% from local jurisdictions, the report said.
Staffing turnover within the county and recent reorganizations of the Homeless Services Division has also resulted in a slower-than-expected roll out of the five-year plan, the jury found.
County Homeless Services Division manager Joe Dzvonik resigned from his position in September 2023, just a year after the county announced its five-year plan to reduce homelessness.
The jury also found that the county’s selection and vetting process of sites for potential homeless service projects such as the Welcome Home Village in San Luis Obispo have suffered from a failure by the county to “implement a cohesive public awareness plan on homeless issues,” the report read.
In its report, the grand jury identified six proposed homeless response programs that experienced setbacks since 2019, finding that public resistance was a common barrier to getting a project done.
The grand jury found proposed projects such as the Prado Day Center expansion in 2019, a temporary shelter in a Higuera Street parking lot in 2020, a permanent shelter on South Higuera Street in 2021, a Paso Robles emergency warming center in 2022, a Grover Beach Safe Parking Program in 2023 and the original Welcome Home Village concept all faced public opposition and legal issues — and then were canceled or delayed.
Housing bottleneck in SLO County causes affordability issues
Housing availability and affordability were identified by the grand jury as one of the significant bottlenecks the county’s homeless services face in 2024.
The jury’s report analysis of housing cost burden by income level showed significant portions of the population who make moderate income — between $67,518 and $101,277 — spend more than 30% on housing alone.
Around 39% of people earning a moderate income — meaning between 80% and 120% of the area median income — spend more than 30% of their income on housing, according to the report.
In lower-income brackets, the problem worsens, with 63% of low-income households that make between $42,199 and $67,518 spending more than 30% of income on housing. Among low-income households making between $25,319 and $42,199, 77% were cost-burdened by housing, and in extremely-low-income households making less than $25,319 a year, 87% were cost-burdened by housing.
No group was impacted more by this bottleneck than seniors aged 62 and older, making up a third of households earning less than 80%, according to the report.
This lack of available housing at most levels, from transitional shelter to workforce homes, affects the county’s ability to attract and retain workers and professionals and keeps people homeless longer, the jury found.
What happens next?
In its recommendations to the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors, the grand jury recommended the county reevaluate its five-year plan to add more specific and quantifiable goals.
The grand jury also advised implementing better succession planning practices to minimize the impact of staff turnover within the Homeless Services Division, and asked the Board to “aggressively implement” a comprehensive public awareness campaign on homeless issue.
The recommendations from the civil grand jury are advisory only, but the Board of Supervisors is required to respond to the three recommendations within 90 days of submission of the report.
