The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved some changes to the Welcome Home Village, a project to provide housing and services to San Luis Obispo's homeless population.
The project, to be located off of Bishop Street and Johnson Avenue, was originally approved in May 2024. It's now being scaled back due to budget constraints.
"[It] was a combination of different factors that played into the reduction in site scope, but I think it's going to be amazing. Once it's built, it'll be smaller, but it'll be more manageable," said Margaret Shepard-Moore, Welcome Home Village Project Manager.
Changes include reducing the size of the project from the originally-approved 80 units to 54 units. The project's footprint will also be smaller.
"Originally, the Welcome Home Village was slated to be built on this upper parking lot, this whole entire parking lot up here, as well as the lower parking lot that you see to my right," Shepard-Moore described, pointing to the parking areas across the street from the County's Behavioral Health Campus. "The new Welcome Home Village will just encompass this area down here."
The county is receiving $13.35 million in Encampment Resolution Fund dollars from the state to pay for the project.
Shepard-Moore says the changes were made due to high construction costs, to comply with fire codes, and the cost of site preparation which would have taken almost half of the current budget before construction.
Neighbor Bob Oldenkamp says he's still not pleased with the project moving forward despite the reduction in units.
"Fifty-four is better than 80. I'm disappointed. It's, you know, right next to residential housing down the street here," he said.
But other residents, like Kari Frances Gephart, believe the project is perfectly located.
"This is a great place to be in recovery and restoring your life, and so I think it's a wonderful location," Gephart said.
According to Shepard-Moore, construction is expected to begin in May and be completed by December 2025.
