City, County Partner with Local Non-Profits to Add 20 New Beds for Homeless Youth
With the help of the City, County and two local nonprofits, Urban Street Angels has opened 20 new emergency shelter beds for youth at its downtown San Diego homeless center, adding to the 50 beds already occupied at the center.
The beds were funded through the County-City Behavioral Health Impact Fund (BHIF), which provides one-time capital funding for community-based behavioral health organizations to expand their capacity to provide services. The BHIF provided a $503,000 grant to cover the construction costs for the 20 beds, while the Lucky Duck Foundation and Price Charities provided all necessary move-in supplies, including bed frames, mattresses, linens, hygiene supplies, and more.
The shelter offers supportive services, including case management, housing and job placement, occupational therapy, connections to health care and other assistance.
With the addition of these 20 beds, Urban Street Angels estimates that an additional 60 young people will end their homelessness per year, bringing the number of youth who end their homelessness through the group’s housing and programming from up to 360 per year.
Our homelessness crisis demands that we create housing that meets the needs of a diverse population, and for many people experiencing homelessness, that means housing with behavioral health services attached. This is exactly the kind of project we envisioned when we began to partner with the County on the Behavioral Health Impact Fund.
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