On Feb. 20, Chula Vista City Council unanimously voted to adopt a resolution authorizing the city to jointly apply and participate in the HomeKey Program with Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation for the rehabilitation and conversion of the Palomar Hotel into permanent supportive housing. And authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and enter into a developer agreement with Wakeland.
Located at 1160 Walnut Ave., the Palomar Hotel was purchased by the city for $6.2 million on July 25, 2023. The city’s intent for the motel is to rehabilitate it and convert it into PSH for formerly homeless households. It is anticipated that approximately 30 units of PSH will be provided at the site, with additional space set aside for supportive services and onsite management. To convert the motel rooms into long-term housing, the city intends to add kitchenettes and perform other unit upgrades and carry out a wide range of necessary building repairs. After a Feasibility Study Draft Report, the costs for all repairs and improvements are estimated at $8,1334,501, with approximately an additional need of $1.115,500 for unaccounted costs.
Council member Alonzo Gonzalez requested staff to identify the structure of the management with Wakeland.
Staff said the city is now just venturing into this partnership and will work with Wakeland to establish the specifics of the relationship between the City and Wakeland for permanent supportive housing.
If the funding for HomeKey does not come through the city has American Rescue Plan Act Funding already approved for this purpose.
“There is probably a couple million gap here still,” said Housing & Homeless Services Director Stacey Kurz. “We have some other options and are still looking for other grant options as well. We are really looking at taking the next six months to establish our relationship, and put into place the development agreement, and to look for other opportunities,” adding that if the extra funds are not found, staff would come back to Council recommending allocating extra funds to fill the gap.
Kurz said most funding sources considered require a 55-year restriction, so that is the “time of life” of the facility. With the current 10 PSH’s, this would bring the bed count to 40 PSHs.
Wakeland President and CEO Rebecca Louie said funding sometimes comes with its own restrictions about who can be served.
“I will say, as we all know, there is an extraordinary homeless crisis for South Bay, San Diego, and all over California,” she said. “We will have infinite people wanting to live here, so we are always 100% full. What we try to do is to train staff to meet people with compassion, so when we move people in, we have staff who have worked homelessness, and know the problems of living on the street and the trauma that goes with that, so we get them off to a really good start on day one, so we have a very little turnover. We have a 96% retention rate, and then 96% of people voluntarily partake in services at our property.”
“The majority of our housing targets seniors. It is something we have a heart for, and it is the fastest growing segment of people experiencing homelessness at alarming rates,” she continued. “We just opened four properties in Los Angeles. All of them are targeted for seniors experiencing homelessness.”
Kurz said they would like to focus on local Chula Vista individuals that are experiencing homelessness, but depending on where the funding comes from, the target of participant may have to be pulled from a countywide database.
Mayor John McCann said the city was very successful in putting together a homeless outreach team, went on to create the Otay Village tiny homes community, to help people who want to get off the streets and become clean and sober to get them into permanent housing.
“This is the next phase,” he said. “We are going to be able to again, target chronic homelessness with supportive housing. Wakeland has been a tremendous partner. I have seen them do several outstanding projects over the years for affordable housing and Casa Anita, the last one, being able to help homeless.”
