NATIONAL CITY, Calif. (KGTV) -- National City officials and other leaders on Wednesday introduced the city’s first homeless shelter.
The shelter, located at 2400 Euclid Avenue, will be run by the San Diego Rescue Mission and is named the South County Lighthouse Center.
The South County Lighthouse Center is a part of San Diego Rescue Mission's expansion project in the region, and is one more location along with shelters in Bankers Hill and Oceanside.
Formerly a charter school, the facility is being transformed into a center with 162 beds available for unhoused men, women, and children. It includes a separate space for women with their children.
The shelter is opening at a critical time when National City's homeless population is steadily growing.
According to the city’s 2024 “Point-in-Time” data charts, 179 unhoused people are currently accounted for.
San Diego Rescue Mission Vice President of Operations Edvin Liku said they are determined to help every single one these unhoused individuals.
Liku said oftentimes a shelter's first challenge is convincing the unhoused community come into the shelter, because he said shelters are known to be run-down. He added it can take months of convincing, so successfully bringing people off the streets starts with the facility.
"If the facility is something like this, that smells good, that has the best furniture, that has the best bathrooms, in their mind they are saying, 'This is nice, they will take care of us,'" Liku said.
Liku said after members join the shelter, they will stay for about a month and will be paired with services that will help them transition into stable housing.
Many of those services, according to Liku, will start with a trauma-informed approach, meaning the center will address abuse, mental illness, addiction, and more.
After the official opening on Thursday, the shelter's outreach team will hit the areas in National City where many of the unhoused stay, and they will start extending invitations to the shelter by offering their mobile shower services.
"We have a shower trailer that's designated for National City," Liku said. "We bring the shower to where homeless individuals are. Outreach can be complicated, and changing people's minds to come to a center like this is complicated. It starts with taking a shower, changing clothes, and providing some food."
One major donor for the shelter is the Padres Foundation.
In Wednesday's ribbon cutting, Tom Seidler, President of the Padres Foundation, said that after late team owner Peter Seidler's passing, the foundation wanted to continue his passion for the community and one of the biggest issues on his heart was homelessness.
The Peter Seidler Legacy Project was established, and the South County Lighthouse Center is officially the first project in the portfolio.
Seidler said they made a $350,000 donation to build the shelter's community center, and it's also the largest contribution in the Padres Foundation history.
