Take a look at our new shelter progress!
On Wednesday, July 12th, 2023 history was made! Elected community leaders and guests were invited to sign their name on a steel beam that will be at the heart of the NEW Bridge to Home shelter that is currently under construction on Drayton Street in Santa Clarita.
Thank you to everyone who attended this meaningful celebration and milestone for the Santa Clarita Valley, including representatives from the offices of Senator Scott Wilk, Congressman Mike Garcia, and Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo.
At the beam signing, Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Mayor Pro Tem Cameron Smyth gave inspiring speeches along with Bridge to Home's Executive Director, Chris Najarro, and Board President, Tracey Carpentier. “This beam represents hope, strength, dignity, solutions, and change for Santa Clarita Valley and our neighbor’s experiencing homelessness. This beam is going to provide the shelter strength and support just as we do at Bridge to Home every day for our clients and our residents. This beam will provide us the true meaning of help, hope, and change," Carpentier stated.
As you know, Bridge to Home started operations in the Santa Clarita Valley over 25 years ago and it is with great excitement that we await the opening of our new shelter facility in the summer of 2024 which will provide interim housing and essential services for 60 individuals and 8 families.
With coverage of this event on NBC Channel 4 News that evening, we are proud to share our story with the broader Los Angeles community. Homelessness over the last year in Los Angeles County has risen to over 75,000 people. At Bridge to Home, we will continue to help our neighbors in need in the Santa Clarita Valley for the next 25 years and more.
Press Coverage: The Signal KHTS SCVNews.com
In July, 2022 Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, and Assemblywoman Suzette Martinez Valladares, R-Santa Clarita, announced that they have secured $3 million in funding from the 2022-2023 California state budget for construction of the new Bridge to Home Santa Clarita Valley facility. This grant comes at a crucial time in the construction timeline and has a significant impact on our ability to meet our construction budget. On behalf of everyone served by Bridge to Home, the staff, volunteers, and Board of Directors, thank you Senator Wilk and Assemblywomen Valladares. Read more about this donation here: The Signal - SCV
On May 20, 2022 Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and City of Santa Clarita officials met at City Hall to announce a major donation to Bridge to Home. In an announcement made by Mayor Laurene Weste of the City of Santa Clarita “I am proud to say that the City of Santa Clarita is donating an additional $2 million to make this homeless shelter a reality.” Los Angeles County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office matched the City’s contribution with an additional $2 million donation To read more about this announcement, please click on the following links: LA Channel 36 KHTS SCVTV The Signal - SCV with additional reporting by KTLA.
On March 14, 2022, we marked another important step in the process of building our permanent shelter on Drayton Street. Alongside the Santa Clarita City Council, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, representatives from state and federal officials, our Board, staff, and supporters, we finally got our shovels in the ground to make way for this incredible new facility we've been planning for years! Press Coverage: SCVTV Event Coverage The Signal KHTS Hometown Station
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In March of 2021, the City of Santa Clarita’s Planning Commission recommended approval of the plans for the facility and the City Council will further consider the project in the coming weeks. On March 22, 2021, Bridge to Home celebrated the completion of the sewer and water hook-up to our site on Drayton Street. This was the first step in the construction of our new homeless shelter facility. Construction is anticipated to begin in the summer of 2021 with completion in the fall of 2023.
The current facility does not have running water for the kitchen or bathrooms.
The now-vacated shelter facility on Drayton Street consisted of six modular classroom buildings and no sewer line, which meant no running water in the make-shift kitchen and no indoor plumbing. Volunteers prepared food at home and took the dishes back home with them to wash. People who stayed at the shelter had to use outdoor portable showers and portable toilets.
The modular units on Drayton Street are unusable and the space as it was cannot meet the needs of the people we serve.
However, the land on Drayton Street, which was deeded to BTH by the City of Santa Clarita, will become the future site of a brand-new, fully functioning, purposeful year-round interim housing shelter.
Every aspect of the new facility is designed to increase the rate of lifting people out of homelessness and into housing.