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City Announces Purchase Agreement for New Homeless Shelter Location
Purchase must be approved by City Council
The City of Bakersfield is pleased to announce it has reached an agreement in principle with Calcot Limited to purchase 7.5 acres of property and the associated office complex at 1900 East Brundage Lane for $3.83 million to open a new, comprehensive homeless shelter. The new facility will provide much-needed bed space to assist people experiencing homelessness who typically do not, or cannot access traditional shelters within Bakersfield.
This full-service facility will also provide space for on-site service providers to deliver necessary resources through a collaborative system of care to individuals experiencing homelessness. The purchase of this facility represents a significant step in assisting homeless individuals onto a path toward permanent housing.
“This new shelter will provide additional bed capacity and resources to homeless individuals who otherwise would not be able to access these types of services,” said City Manager Alan Tandy. “The City looks forward to joining several partners under one unified roof with one objective: To reduce the number of homeless individuals on the streets of Bakersfield.”
The new shelter will combine several on-site resources for homeless individuals in a secure and professionally-managed environment. Individuals will have access to case managers, transportation services, housing navigators, medical and mental health services as well as animal care. The facility will have on-site security and will be operated by professionally trained third-party staff.
Advantages of this property include:
- Up to 450 emergency beds, constructed in 2-3 Phases
- Existing office space to house all Service Providers on-site.
- Space is available for a separate, but attached Bakersfield Police Department southeast substation. Growth in department personnel necessitates added space needs.
- Existing office space potential for new Bakersfield-Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative (BKRHC) staff.
- Existing conditioned warehouse for Possessions Storage with minimal renovations.
- Existing Day-room and Green-Space.
- Existing cafeteria area and room for a commercial kitchen.
- Appropriate layout and access for Coordinated-Entry
- Ability for on-site “referral only” drop off system via shuttle and coordination with partners.
- Space for on-site employee parking that will not interfere with operations.
- Room for future addition of “safe parking area” if needed.
Ten acres of adjacent vacant property that is part of the proposed deal can be used for future affordable housing and/or a City Corporation Yard. The cost of that is $1.1 million for a total of $4.93 million.
The purchase agreement will be presented to the City Council at the next available meeting opportunity.
The funding for this purchase will come from the Public Safety & Vital Services Measure (Measure N). This purchase would be in addition to more than $11.5 million in PSVS funding allocations the City Council has made this year and represents one of several efforts by the City to address homelessness.
For more information on these expanded and enhanced efforts, please refer to the accompanying Bakersfield Homelessness Action Plan fact sheet.
Please also refer to the accompanying rendering showing how these uses may be arranged in the structure, as well as an aerial photo of the site.
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