A $900,000-grant will help Santa Barbara’s interim shelter for homeless individuals with facility upgrades and operations.

Half of the grant from the Santa Barbara Foundation will fund operations and programs at the Casa Cacique shelter at 816 Cacique St. and the rest will be spent on upgrades to the restroom, kitchen and other areas.

Caroline Paine, the city’s housing and homeless services manager, said the grant is a “game changer” for the shelter, as the city is looking at a $1-million cost to upgrade the aging facility.

That funding “makes such a big difference, especially in this first year, especially in the budget crisis in the city,” Paine said.

“All of these expenses haven’t been on a five-year plan, so they’re really coming and impacting the budget, and we’re just scrambling to try to make it work.”

This $900,000 grant came from the Francis and Marianna Masin Human Services Fund, which they established to continue supporting community organizations even after they passed away.

The city took over ownership of the interim housing shelter in January. It has been working to upgrade the building while still providing beds, daily meals, case management, and physical and mental health support. 

While the city owns the shelter, it’s operated by Mercy Housing Living Centers, which took over for People Assisting the Homeless on Jan. 1. PATH had operated the shelter from 2015 through 2025.

“We do have a lot of hopes and dreams for (Mercy House Living Centers) to provide a place that’s safe, it’s progressive, it’s a place you want to go in order to take that step into housing,” Paine said.

Councilmember Wendy Santamaria said she’s heard from business owners and residents living near the shelter that conditions have improved and the neighborhood has been cleaner since the city took over ownership.

“This is truly worth the investment,” Santamaria said. “Hearing that we got this $900,000 grant, it’s huge because we are also playing catch up a little bit on bringing the building up to good standards for habitability.”

Since taking over ownership, Paine said staff have focused on deferred maintenance like plumbing and flooring fixes while figuring out other facility needs. They also moved lockers that were inside the facility outside for people to store their personal items in.

Paine said they are currently working on accessibility upgrades, but have long-term goals to renovate the bathrooms and kitchen and upgrade the HVAC system.

Food is currently being catered to the shelter because the kitchen is in disrepair and one of the walk-in freezers is broken. 

“I would really love to see the kitchen up and running this year as well, both for the vocational opportunities there, but also it gives people a way to interact and contribute to their home,” Paine said. 

A clinic operated by Doctors Without Walls will soon be available to shelter residents at Casa Cacique. The goal is to eventually open up the clinic to the community, Paine said.

Santamaria said having the clinic will bring the shelter closer to being a holistic place where people can get all, or most of their needs met, without having to worry about going somewhere else.

“On top of shelter and food, medical services is another one of those basic needs that our unhoused population historically has difficulty having access to,” Santamaria said. “That’s a good start to get them up on their feet.”

So far the shelter has been able to continue operations while the city works on maintenance, but staff did reduce the capacity from 100 beds to 80 earlier this year. Full capacity has yet to return. 

Over the next year, Paine said staff plan to host more daytime programming, help individuals preparing for permanent housing, and help with financial literacy and vocational training. 

“We have the staff there all day and we want to really leverage that into helping people meet those self-sufficiency goals, ” Paine said.