While San Antonio leaders celebrated City Council’s approval of contracts earlier this month that will again convert a downtown hotel into a homeless shelter, the owner of a child care center adjacent to the Holiday Inn was “deeply concerned and, frankly, outraged.”
SAMMinistries, a nonprofit that offers housing and services for people experiencing homelessness, will move its low-barrier shelter from a Days Inn on the opposite side of downtown into the near West Side Holiday Inn for at least two years, through September 30, 2025.
It’s slated to open by the end of November.
The city previously leased the hotel in 2020 for Haven for Hope, the city’s largest shelter, as it required more space to allow for social distancing during the height of the coronavirus pandemic for more than two years.
“The aftermath? Constant trash, loitering, … fires [on the adjacent property] and daily police calls from our end to address homeless individuals trespassing on our playground,” Discovery World Learning Center CEO Jason Jauregui wrote in an Oct. 23 letter to City Council members, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and media outlets. “We encountered syringes, drugs, and unauthorized individuals attempting to enter our facility, among other things.”
Discovery World provides daycare and early education services to children up to age 12.
Melody Woosley, director of the city’s Department of Human Services, had told reporters earlier this month that the city expected little controversy or delay because the hotel, located at 318 W. Cesár E. Chávez Blvd. on the west side of downtown, had previously been a shelter.
“We expect it to be as smooth as that operation was, we had no security issues [or] complaints from the neighborhood or businesses,” she said after the council vote.
The city was unaware of Jauregui’s complaints at the time, Woosley said in a Tuesday email.
“The City and SAMM will work with the property owner on a communication and safety plan to include increased patrols and improved fencing,” Woosley stated. “SAMM has developed security protocols and standard operating procedures over the last two years operating the Days Inn shelter. … The new shelter will follow that model with security on site, controlled access, and security issues will be immediately addressed.”
SAMM too was unaware of Discovery World’s concerns until local media shared Jauregui’s letter last week, said Nikisha Baker, the nonprofit’s president and CEO.
“We’re here and ready and available to listen and understand and try to talk through how we are hoping to mitigate the concerns that are being raised,” Baker said. “We’d rather, candidly, do that face-to-face than then through the media.”
Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1), whose district includes downtown, said she met with Jauregui on Tuesday.
“We hear Mr. Jauregui’s concerns, and as an educator, I can definitely empathize with safety concerns for children and families,” Kaur said.
Her team will continue to work with Jauregui, City Manager Erik Walsh, SAMM and SAPD to “create a proactive monitoring routine and co-hosting information sessions on [protocols] that will be in place for residents of the shelter.”
‘Unpredictable behavior’
Discovery World launched an online petition the day after the contracts were approved, calling for the city to “halt” operations and find another location for the shelter.
“We believe this exposes our children to unpredictable behavior that may not be suitable for their young minds,” the petition’s author Jessica Garcia, a staffer, wrote. “It is important to note that we are not against providing support for the homeless; on the contrary, we believe in humanitarian efforts and understand that shelters play a crucial role in aiding those less fortunate. However, placing such an establishment directly opposite a childcare center is questionable.”
In his letter, Jauregui cited three fires on the abandoned property at 503 Urban Loop while the shelter was operating. Information provided by the San Antonio Fire Department shows that there were two calls for fires during that period from March 2020 through August 2022.
“The fires were likely related to unhoused activity, but cannot be tied specifically to the Holiday Inn shelter as that building had been vacant long before the hotel [was] being used as a shelter,” SAFD spokesman Joseph Arrington said.
Jauregui suggested that the city had to pay for “extensive remodeling” at the hotel after Haven for Hope moved out “to address the degradation left in the wake of its previous occupants.”
That is incorrect, Woosley wrote. “Per the lease, the city was responsible for ‘excessive damages.’ The hotel owner did not identify any excessive damages on move-out.”
Baker said the nonprofit is dedicated to ensuring safety on and off the hotel property.
“We’re expecting good things to happen as we get folks — who are unsheltered and roaming the neighborhood anyway — off the street, into housing and connected to services,” Baker said. “We’re expecting that will strengthen that community and the surrounding area, rather than cause any damage or cause any harm.”
A vulnerable population
The lease and operation agreements approved on Oct. 19 will expand the city’s low-barrier homeless shelter capacity from 45 rooms to 200. The city paid $8.8 million to lease the Holiday Inn and $7.1 million to SAMMinistries to operate the shelter for two years.
“Fewer than 50” hotel employees will be laid off on Nov. 1 as part of the transition, according to KSAT.
Haven for Hope, which managed the property the last time it was a shelter, places more requirements for residents than SAMMinistries’ low-barrier shelter, including requiring a government-issued photo ID.
But sheltering more vulnerable people, such as those who also deal with substance abuse or mental health issues, means not requiring sobriety or ID to stay there. Alcohol and drugs are not permitted on site.
People who have a criminal record will be allowed in the shelter, though its proximity to the child care facility means the shelter will not accept sex offenders who are under supervision for their offenses, Baker said. Residents will be referred to the shelter through outreach workers from SAMM, the city or other service providers.
Though those dynamics can be concerning for neighbors, the shelter is low-barrier by design, Baker explained.
“It is designed to address individuals who may have a higher level of service need,” she said. “That is frightening for some people when we say that.”
To manage that population, SAAM focuses on effective security protocols, Baker said, in order to protect both the shelter residents and those who live or work nearby.
The only requirement to get a room at the shelter is to demonstrate chronic homelessness, meaning they have been unhoused for a year or repeatedly and have a disabling physical or mental condition.
The city has set a goal of getting 400 unsheltered people off the streets and into shelters or permanent homes over fiscal year 2024, which started on Oct. 1. The 2023 homeless point-in-time count found 874 unsheltered individuals on one night in January.
Low-barrier shelters are part of the city’s expanding “housing first” model to address homelessness that prioritizes housing over sobriety. The approach is to provide housing first with no strings attached, while offering recovery and other medical services to help residents truly improve their circumstances.
During the first 18 months of its operations, SAMM served about 280 people at the 45-bed motel and about 25% of them moved into permanent housing afterward. Now, of the nearly 330 people served over the Days Inn location’s lifetime, 41% have gone on to find housing or treatment options.
Baker understands the concerns about the location of the shelter, but the data shows the low-barrier shelter is working to improve lives, she said.
“Where do we put it? If not here, where?”
