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,
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