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A month into winter, San Benito County residents have already experienced nights with gusts of wind up to 46 mph and temperatures in the low 30s, according to the National Weather Service. For those living on the streets, it means they either try to find room at the homeless shelter or they are on their own, because there are no other local alternatives for temporary housing during severe weather.
Deputy Director of San Benito County Health and Human Services Enrique Arreola said there are no state or federal laws that require local jurisdictions to provide additional services during inclement weather. When the shelter reaches its 56-client capacity, said Arreola, the county has limited funding for the hotel vouchers it provides to residents in need.
He said San Benito County does not have the resources needed to duplicate what neighboring areas provide, such as Monterey County, which partners with organizations to provide services if temperature reaches a certain threshold.
“What we do have is the year-round shelter,” he said. “We are in the process of increasing capacity to allow us to serve more individuals, especially during cold winter months.”
Community Homeless Solutions program director Eve Mata said the shelter is currently housing 50 clients and that an outreach team goes weekly to various encampments and parks to distribute information about its services. For those who do not want to stay at the shelter, Mata said the team provides resources such as hygiene kits, water and sometimes sleeping bags.
San Benito County is part of a homeless coalition with Monterey County, known as the Continuum of Care, which applies for funding for services and conducts the Homeless Point-in-Time count every two years.
Arreola said the county is adding 12 beds at the 56-bed H.O.M.E. Resource Center at 1161 San Felipe Road and that it is waiting for the furniture to arrive.
The expansion was paused by the county in June as it worked to cut costs in order to balance its budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Arreola said the shelter has expanded its hours from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. to 24 hours because it received additional funding from the state earlier this fiscal year, and plans to operate around the clock through June.
He said the county needs about $200,000 more annually to continue operating at the current hours after the end of the fiscal year.
“What we have in place allows us to provide valuable services to our community,” he said. “That means less people on the streets, receiving meals, a warm bed and other services.”
Mata said historically the shelter hours have been 24/7 from November through April. She said the hours were extended starting Aug. 1.
Arreola said pursuing grants is an ongoing effort and that the county recently requested $500,000 from the state’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Grant Program. He said he plans to apply for grants the county was not eligible for during the last two years because it lacked a certified Housing Element, a plan required by the state showing how jurisdictions can accommodate their housing needs.
In addition to expanding the shelter, the county is close to completing 16 new units for families at the Migrant Center on Southside Road. Five units are for transitional housing and 11 are for permanent housing.
Those units were built with a $1.1 million grant from the Homeless Emergency Aid Program, administered by the California Interagency Council on Homelessness.
In May, the county began cleaning the San Benito River, including removing homeless encampments. After a months-long pause because of funding, county officials are considering a resumption of river clean-up efforts and are expected to discuss the project in the coming weeks.
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