SAN DIEGO — The San Diego City Council has slashed funding to the Neil Good Day Center, a homeless services hub run by Father Joe’s Villages for the past 35 years in downtown San Diego.
The cuts, finalized on June 9, were made as part of the city’s efforts to address its budget deficit.
But Father Joe’s Villages is still committed to providing a day center for the city’s homeless population.
Voice of San Diego reported that the organization had decided to retrofit part of its cafeteria on its campus on Imperial Avenue to serve as an alternative day center location once the center closes. The date the center will close has not been announced.
The new space will receive no funding from the city, will be able to serve at least 25% fewer people, and will be only about one-third the size of the Neil Good Day Center, according to Voice of San Diego.
The center, located in the East Village, is a vital hub that represented less than 1 percent of the City’s homelessness spending, yet played an outsized role in stabilizing neighbors in need and connecting them to care. It has served nearly 7,000 individuals annually.
Deacon Jim Vargas, CEO of Father Joe’s Villages, issued a statement after the City’s Office of the Independent Budget Analyst released its modifications to the mayor’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, which only partially funded the center.
“The City cannot claim homelessness is a top priority while simultaneously dismantling one of the most heavily used access points into the homelessness response system,” he said.
Deacon Vargas said that the Day Center is “not optional” for thousands of people, who depend on it as a place to shower, receive mail, access medical care, connect with outreach workers, and take the first steps toward stability.
“Communities are judged by how they treat their most vulnerable residents,” he said. “San Diego should not become a city that turns away from people in need, while offering no realistic plan for where they are supposed to go next.”
