Historic Churchill property to house homeless veterans

By Dave Schwab

Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s pledge to house 1,000 homeless veterans took a major step forward with the recent rehabilitation of Hotel Churchill Downtown, which has been repurposed to house at-risk youth and 56 needy vets.

The hotel at 827 C St. has been closed since 2005, when the previous owner’s plans to transform it from a single-room-occupancy hotel to an upscale bed-and-breakfast were derailed due to financing problems and other issues. The San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) took ownership of the hotel property in 2011, and has since resurrected it.

The grand reopening of Hotel Churchill was five years in the making for SDHC.

“We are celebrating a fresh start in the life of the historical Hotel Churchill,” said SDHC president and CEO Richard C. Gentry. “This accomplishment embodies everything that the SDHC is about — people.”

Michael Pavco, SDHC vice president, said Churchill’s revival fits into the grander scheme of the city’s newly adopted approach for dealing with growing Downtown homelessness.

“This is part of the Housing First plan addressing homelessness in San Diego, and is also part of the mayor’s initiative to house 1,000 homeless veterans by March 2017,” said Pavco, noting the Churchill is more than just housing, providing troubled tenants with wrap-around social services as well.

“There’s going to be comprehensive case management onsite in an office built into the ground floor provided to the [Churchill] veterans,” Pavco said, adding the revitalized hotel is not “transitional” but “permanent” long-term support housing.

“Both models have been around for awhile,” he said.

Pavco also pointing out that transitional housing is more of the bunk bed, shared-room variety, versus permanent individual housing units in a supportive environment utilizing social service professionals. The renovation of historic Hotel Churchill created 72 affordable rental studios with a kitchen and bathroom in each unit.

The hotel-to-housing renovation project is a key component of Housing First – San Diego, the SDHC’s Homelessness Action Plan launched in November 2014. The SDHC, working with its nonprofit affiliate, Housing Development Partners, has preserved affordable rental housing at Hotel Churchill.

“With the grand reopening of the Hotel Churchill, we’re building a better future for homeless veterans and at-risk youth,” Faulconer said. “We’ve restored this historic building, breathing new life into it so it can provide quality affordable housing for men and women who served our country. Now they have housing and the support to turn their lives around.”

So far, the mayor’s “Housing Our Heroes” campaign has successfully housed more than 320 veterans and counting since it began in March 2016.

There is a shortage of housing countywide, especially of the affordable kind.

“This particular property came to us through foreclosure from a previous owner that had defaulted on their affordable housing obligations,” Pavco said.

He added that SDHC is “actively in the market buying properties,” not only historic ones like the Churchill, but those at lower-priced entry points.

“They [rental properties] all have their individual character,” Pavco said of the affordable market, noting that many existing rental properties have communal bathrooms, as well as cooking and laundry facilities.

“We are in the housing market to try and find new projects so that we can preserve the existing stock — or create new,” Pavco said.

Established in 1979, the SDHC provides a variety of award-winning affordable housing programs and services that stimulate the local economy, revitalize neighborhoods, and impact the lives of low-income and homeless San Diegans.

SDHC’s largest program is Federal Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance. With more than 16,000 housing vouchers allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, SDHC can provide Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance to low-income households in the city of San Diego, including homeless San Diegans and chronically homeless Veterans.”

For more information about Housing Our Heroes, visit sdhc.org or sandiegohousingsearch.org.

— Dave Schwab can be reached at [email protected].