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Bridge To Home Talks Homeless Shelter Location, Fundraising Campaign

Officials who run Santa Clarita Valley’s only homeless shelter met Thursday to discuss site selection for a homeless shelter in Santa Clarita.


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Bridge to Home, the organization that runs the homeless shelter, are looking at several sites, per an agreement with the city of Santa Clarita, said Tammy McGivern, who’s in charge of public relations for Bridge to Home.Bridge to Home Executive Director Tim Davis talks to a group of volunteers at a past opening of the homeless shelter

The shelter is currently on a three-year lease with the city at its Drayton Street home, but shelter officials agreed to work toward finding a permanent home as part of the terms of the lease.

The locations include a variety of spots across the Santa Clarita Valley, such as the old William S. Hart Union High School District administration building on Centre Pointe Parkway.

Most of the locations are in the Valencia and Saugus area, according to officials.

“At our last meeting on Dec. 17, the committee considered several potential sites,” according to a Bridge to Home email to city officials. “One of the challenges, which we all realize, is that there is very little available space to either purchase or enter into a long-term lease.”

Officials estimate the homeless populations in the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys has increased by 64 percent in the last two years, according to numbers from Bridge to Home officials.

“We’re growing every year,” said Tim Davis, executive director for Bridge to Home, in an interview at the shelter’s Soup for the Soul.

Related article: Santa Clarita Homeless Shelter Hosts Open House Ahead Of Opening

Davis attributed to the growth of the shelter’s services and its ability to stay open 127 nights this year, the most in the shelter’s 17-year history, to the fact that the community has stepped up its contributions.

Bridge to Home officials are in the midst of planning for a major fundraising push in order to meet a $1 million goal, McGivern said.

Related article: Bridge To Home Works On Permanent Facility To Help SCV Homeless

“The homeless population is up about 16 percent, countywide,” McGivern said. “We definitely need to ramp up our fundraising efforts to make this permanent facility a reality.”

The organization’s next meeting is set to take place Feb. 20 at Valencia United Methodist Church, and is open to the public.


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Bridge To Home Talks Homeless Shelter Location, Fundraising Campaign

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About Perry Smith

Perry Smith is a print and broadcast journalist who has won several awards for his focused, hyperlocal community coverage in several different regions of the country. In addition to five years of experience covering the Santa Clarita Valley, Smith, a San Fernando Valley native, has worked in newspapers and news websites in Los Angeles, the Northwest, the Central Valley and the South, before coming to KHTS in 2012. To contact Smith, email him at Perry@hometownstation.com.