HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-01-09; Update on La Posada Potential Expansion (District 2); Barberio, GaryTo the members of the:
CITY COUNCIL
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January 9, 2025
Council Memorandum
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Carlsbad
Memo ID# 2025003
To:
From:
Via:
Honorable Mayor Blackburn and Members of the City Council
Gary Barberio, Deputy City Manager, Community Services
Mandy Mills, Director of Housing and Homeless Services
Sheila Cobian, Assistant City Manager~
Re: Update on La Posada Potential Expansion (District 2)
This memorandum provides a status on the current use of, and potential expansion of, the
La Posada de Guadalupe homeless shelter.
Background
The Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego operates the La Posada de Guadalupe homeless
shelter (shelter) in the City of Carlsbad . What originally opened as a cluster of temporary
buildings in 1992 to shelter 50 homeless migrant farm workers, became a permanent 13,810
square foot facility in 2011. The shelter provides emergency and transitional shelter services to
a total of 100 homeless men, including a portion reserved for 50 farmworkers. The City of
Carlsbad has been a cooperative partner with Catholic Charities for many years, helping to
identify a location for the shelter, providing funding for the development and expansion of the
shelter, and providing ongoing support of operational costs.
The City Council has identified the expansion of the shelter to serve more individuals
experiencing homelessness, including space for women and families, as a priority project in
both the City Council adopted Carlsbad Strategic Plan (2023-2027) and the Homelessness
Action Plan. City staff have been working with Catholic Charities to examine the feasibility of
expanding the footprint of the shelter building to include additional shelter capacity as well as
permanent or seasonal relief from the requirement to only serve farmworkers in 50 of the
100 beds.
Discussion
The City of Carlsbad previously granted Community Development Block Grant (CDBG} funding
to Catholic Charities to pay for architectural and engineering costs to examine the feasibility of
expanding the overall building square footage. The conceptual phase of the predevelopment
work is complete. The proposed project could consist of improvements to the single-story
buildings on the north side and reconstructing the south building to two or three stories. The
building expansion would allow for the shelter to serve more individuals, including potentially a
separate building for women/families.
Community Services Branch
Housing & Homeless Services Department
1200 Carlsbad Village Drive I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 442-339-2810 t
Council Memo -Update on La Posada Potential Expansion (District 2)
January 9, 2025
Page 2
However, the expansion project has been on hold for two main reasons, State of California
approval and funding. The State of California Department of Housing and Community
Development has to consent to any change on the property due to a Deed of Trust and
Regulatory Agreement recorded against the property as a result of a $867,352 State of
California loan towards the construction of the existing permanent La Posada facility in 2011.
The State loan is from the Joe Serna Farmworker Housing program which restricts use for
farmworkers. Unfortunately, the State of California Department of Housing and Community
Development is not supportive of demolition and reconstruction of a larger building to serve
more people. They explained they do not support whole or partial demolition of projects,
except in rare cases of severe dilapidation, but not for a building only 10 years old. Without that
consent, Catholic Charities can't begin a capital campaign to raise the remaining funding
needed for an expansion project.
Catholic Charities and city staff have been engaged in conversations with the State of California
Department of Housing and Community Development and with State Senator Catherine
Blakespear to discuss alternatives. If expansion is not feasible, staff have discussed flexibility
within the regulatory agreement for the 50 farmworker beds due to the reduced need for
serving that specific population. Currently, the shelter is required to reserve half of the beds
(50) year-round for farmworkers due to restrictions from the funding source used by the State
of California towards the development of La Posada. The shelter was originally built because of
a significant need to shelter farmworkers who were living in canyons and other open spaces at
that time.
However, since agricultural uses in the North County Coastal area and Carlsbad in particular
have significantly decreased since the inception of the shelter in 1992, many of the 50
farmworker shelter beds at La Posada go empty, particularly outside of the limited farm picking
season. The State of California recently authorized a temporary waiver of the requirement to
serve only farmworkers during winter months in order to serve more of the general homeless
population. The temporary waiver was authorized in November 2024, and will be in effect
through March 31, 2025. As this temporary waiver was received unexpectedly, Catholic
Charities is not currently staffed to handle this additional capacity. They expect to gradually
increase the number of general homeless guests each month, but have to be conservative with
intake because the beds will have to be available for farmworkers again in April of 2025.
Next Steps
Catholic Charities and city staff will continue to work with the State of California Department of
Housing and Community Development to see if the regulatory flexibility, at least seasonally, can
be authorized permanently through an administrative action. If so, this increases capacity to
serve more men experiencing homelessness for a portion of the year. Catholic Charities will
need to identify a staffing plan to accommodate the seasonal change as the supportive services
needs of the general homeless population are different than that of farmworkers.
If permanent regulatory flexibility can't be achieved administratively, city staff will continue to
raise the issue for possible legislative resolution. It is part of the city's legislative platform and
has been discussed with the city's lobbyist.
Council Memo -Update on La Posada Potential Expansion (District 2)
January 9, 2025
Page 3
The city continues to work with Catholic Charities on the La Posada de Guadalupe shelter
expansion. The potential expansion is dependent on discussions with the State of California for
consent to reconstruct one of the buildings. If consent was obtained a successful capital
fundraising campaign would need time to raise additional funding. Shelter space for single
women and families continues to be an area of need. City staff will periodically update the City
Council on the progress of the project and other funding recommendations and awards.
cc: Geoff Patnoe, City Manager
Cindie McMahon, City Attorney
Paz Gomez, Deputy City Manager, Public Works
Laura Rocha, Deputy City Manager, Administrative Services
Jeff Murphy, Community Development Director