Community Human Services turns to fundraising for new Monterey homeless shelter.

With over 200 people on the waitlist for Casa de Noche Buena, a homeless shelter for women and families in Seaside operated by Community Human Services and Gathering for Women, a new $6.2 million, 35-bed shelter planned for Monterey can’t come fast enough. The Shuman HeartHouse – named for philanthropist Mark Shuman and his family, who donated $3 million in 2021 – is on track for renovation of a historic Monterey building as soon as November, with completion next summer.

Shuman’s donation allowed CHS to purchase the building for $3 million, and since then they have successfully attracted another $2.5 million from the state toward renovations, and another $500,000 from private donations. That leaves $200,000 to complete the work, which is why CHS is now turning to the community for help, not only for the remaining capital, but for another $1.6 million to finance the first two years of operations.

“We really need the public to step up and help us out so we can operate this shelter,” says Robin McCrae, CEO of CHS. It’s especially true as focus at the state and federal levels over the last few years have begun turning to financing permanent housing and away from shelter operations.

The Shuman HeartHouse will be located at 600 E. Franklin St., once home to the Union Ice Factory in the 1930s, and more recently a dance studio. CHS has the city permits and the water credits to renovate the interior of the building to include 16 individual women’s beds and four large rooms for families, as well as a multi-purpose dining room and a kitchen for meal preparation. CHS was shy on water credits, but a community benefit fund with the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District made up for the small deficit, McCrae says.

Construction is expected to take six to eight months. When completed, it will be able to house up to 35 people. McCrae expects a steady census of 28 to 30 people at any given time. “It will double the impact that Casa de Noche Buena has had,” she says.

The first full year of operations that shelter served 65 people, with nearly 70 percent moving into permanent housing. “That’s the impact we’re hoping to have,” McCrae says.

To kick off the public fundraising effort, CHS is putting on a benefit concert for Shuman HeartHouse at 1pm on Sunday, Oct. 2 at the Monterey County Fair and Event Center (see story, p. 31.) The performers are donating their time to the effort.