Two nonprofits celebrate construction of Monterey Peninsula's first homeless shelter with a virtual groundbreaking.

The Monterey Peninsula’s first homeless shelter for women and families with children had a virtual groundbreaking on June 4, the day nonprofits Community Human Services and Gathering for Women announced construction is underway. The forthcoming Seaside shelter has been dubbed Casa de Noche Buena.

Such building projects for community benefit usually come complete with speeches by elected officials, rounds of applause from supporters and ceremonial shovels for photo opps. One such ceremony was planned, but Covid-19 got in the way.

The virtual groundbreaking came instead a a video posted on Vimeo, with brief statements by leaders of the two partnering nonprofits, as well as Seaside Mayor Ian Oglesby and the chair of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, Chris Lopez.

After years of challenges in creating a homeless shelter on the Peninsula, an infusion of cash from the state government through the Homeless Emergency Aid Program initiated by Gov. Gavin Newsom was the impetus needed to create Casa de Noche Buena last year. The two nonprofits were awarded nearly $1.3 million to construct the shelter.

A former Monterey County Health Department building located on Olympia Avenue, near the intersection with Broadway Avenue, is now under renovation. It’s expected to take five months to revamp the 4,500-square-foot facility. The goal is to welcome the shelter’s first guests in November, according to a press release.

The shelter will provide approximately 30 beds every night, along with case management, access to health, mental health and substance abuse services, children’s services and others designed to link clients to jobs, housing and education.

More money will be needed to operate the shelter into the future, so both nonprofits plan to launch a fundraising campaign seeking funds from cities on the Monterey Peninsula, private individuals and businesses.

A special purpose fund was created through the Community Foundation for Monterey County called the Casa Shelter Fund to support those efforts.

“Annual support is going to be critical. It’s one thing to get the project up and running and another to sustain it,” Dan Baldwin, president and CEO of the foundation, says in the video. “Sustaining it is just as vital, if not more vital, than getting the project started.”