San Diego's Central Library in East Village, a few blocks from Father Joe's campus at 15th Street and Imperial Avenue. Photo: Mzedp, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Father Joe’s Villages opened a new day center on Oct. 1 at its East Village campus after the city-funded Neil Good Day Center closed the day before, ending more than three decades at 299 17th Street. The city’s homelessness page, updated Oct. 20, says services moved a couple of blocks to 1501 Imperial Avenue, that the entrance is at Commercial Street and 15th Street, and that the new site is open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., seven days a week. KPBS, in an Oct. 22 report, said the nonprofit carved the center out of a section of the Joan Kroc Center on its main downtown campus.
The city’s contract for Neil Good ended June 30, KPBS reported, though partial funding continued until the last day. In a statement to KPBS, a city spokesperson said, “as our homelessness response has evolved, we are prioritizing limited resources toward programs that maximize shelter capacity and help connect people to permanent housing.” ABC 10News reported that the city cut nearly $1 million in funding, a figure that did not appear in the KPBS story or on the city’s page. 10News said Father Joe’s spent $120,000 to $150,000 to convert space on its main campus and is now covering the full cost, counting on donors to fill the gap.
Paul DeLessio, Father Joe’s director of coordinated services, told 10News the new room is about a third the size of the old one, which has made storage the hardest adjustment for people who arrive with their belongings. He also said most services moved over and that being on the main campus puts the day center closer to the public lunch line and the health center. KPBS reported that the new site offers showers, bathrooms, laundry machines, a mail center, a barbershop, housing navigation and basic hygiene supplies.
Frank Kensaku Saragosa, who previously used Neil Good when he was unhoused, told KPBS that people staying outside often sleep poorly because they are watching their things, and that they cannot rest in parks or libraries. ABC 10News quoted client Sabrina Nichols calling the center “the difference between me being alive and dead.” The city’s page confirms the new site was open as of Oct. 1. Whether the smaller room and the shift off city funding will be enough through the winter is a question Father Joe’s is now asking its donors, not City Hall.
