Carlsbad, California, shelter secures $360,000 for 15 beds after state rejects expansion

Officials at Carlsbad’s only shelter for homeless people announced Tuesday that it had secured $360,000 to fund 15 beds, far fewer than the millions originally proposed for an expansion.

La Posada de Guadalupe was built in 1992 to shelter farmworkers, many of whom were sleeping in the brush around Agua Hedionda Lagoon. The complex was a cluster of buildings until 2013, when it became a permanent, 24-hour refuge for laborers through funding from the state’s Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program.

In 2023, a project to rebuild one of La Posada’s buildings, add 30 to 50 beds for homeless people, and expand the historically men-only shelter to women and children was halted by the state. According to a city memo, the state’s grant was the reason it intervened. By May 2023, Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego, La Posada’s owner and operator, had more than $4 million lined up for the project, including $1.4 million from Carlsbad’s Housing Trust Fund and a $2 million county grant accepted by the city on the nonprofit’s behalf.

In March 2025, a city staff memo informed Carlsbad’s City Council that the state would not support the project. The memo cited the scope of alterations on a structure built just 11 years earlier. After learning of the state’s position, the county told Carlsbad it would rescind its $2 million award. The memo stated: “While the city has worked diligently to help the expansion project, the project cannot move forward without support from the State of California Housing and Community Development to demolish and rebuild one of the buildings.”

Even without the renovation, the state grant limited the shelter’s ability to serve homeless people, because it required that 50 beds be designated solely for farmworkers. Catholic Charities and city staff negotiated with the state, noting in the memo that agriculture in the Carlsbad area had “significantly decreased since the inception of the shelter in 1992” and that “many of the 50 farmworker shelter beds at La Posada go empty,” especially outside picking season. A deal was reached in mid-January, and according to a follow-up city memo in February, the state agreed to re-designate 40 of the 50 beds to shelter homeless men. La Posada now does so, though its goal of sheltering women and children has not yet been realized.

La Posada has 100 beds in total. As of Tuesday, Catholic Charities could accommodate 65 men, and dozens of beds remained empty. At a press conference that day, hosted by Catholic Charities CEO Appaswamy “Vino” Pajanor, the organization announced that the $360,000 for the 15 newly available beds was split evenly between the city and Lucky Duck Foundation, a local nonprofit, with each contributing $180,000. Carlsbad Mayor Keith Blackburn and Lucky Duck CEO Drew Moser attended. A donation campaign launched by Lucky Duck coincided with the announcement and aims to raise an additional $360,000 from the community to fill 30 more beds.

“Today, really, is not about just beds — it’s about people,” said Pajanor. “It’s about human dignity, safety, hope and giving someone an opportunity to begin again.”

Among those occupying a bed on Tuesday was 41-year-old Neil Hutchinson, who was there with his five-year-old boxer, Cecil. Hutchinson said he had stayed at La Posada for the past three months. For years before that, he lived in his car and worked as a service manager for Sunbelt Rentals, a job he said he was unable to keep. “Unfortunately, (I was) overloaded with work and the passing of my brother was a little too detrimental for me to carry everything together,” Hutchinson said. He advised anyone living on the street who is unsure whether a facility like La Posada is right for them to try it out. Although his car gave him personal space, he said not knowing when he could shower again or where his next meal would come from was too stressful to face every day. “The humanity that you get back from being in a facility like this is amazingly rewarding,” Hutchinson said.

Source: Read the original report