City Housing Agency Concludes Review Of Father Joe's Villages Programs

By Lisa Halverstadt, the Voice of San Diego

July 15, 2024

The San Diego Housing Commission last month declared that one of the city’s largest homeless service providers had successfully completed a more than year-long performance-improvement plan.

The city’s housing agency wrote that Father Joe’s Villages addressed problems it demanded the nonprofit handle, including client complaints at its Golden Hall shelter and lengthy list of people barred from accessing the nonprofits’ services that included a disproportionate number of Black clients.

The Housing Commission praised the nonprofit for working with commission officials to make changes including a significantly whittled-down list of people banned from its services and improved handling of maintenance issues at Golden Hall. Still, several Father Joe’s shelter clients told Voice of San Diego improvements are still needed.

Father Joe’s Villages declined to comment on the review process.

There’s still uncertainty about the scope of the organization’s future work with the city.

Father Joe’s – which now supplies about a third of the city’s shelter beds – is preparing to close its city-funded 350-bed Paul Mirabile Center shelter program by the end of the year to open dozens of non-city-contracted detox and sober living beds at its East Village campus. The city also plans to relocate Father Joe’s 264-bed shelter at Golden Hall by the end of the year, creating uncertainty about how much the service provider will work with the city in years to come. The nonprofit also holds city contracts to operate a 28-bed women’s shelter and a homeless day center in East Village.

Meanwhile, five current and former Golden Hall shelter residents described continuing issues at the shelter in the City Hall complex in interviews with Voice while a Paul Mirabile Center shelter resident said conditions there have improved in recent months.

Father Joe’s Villages, long the region’s most prominent homeless service provider, last February received notices from the commission ordering changes tied to its services at Golden Hall, Paul Mirabile Center and Bishop Maher Center shelter contracts and another for a permanent supportive housing program for people with disabilities. The programs at the time served single men and women plus young adults and families. The city has since moved young adults and families out of Father Joe’s city-backed shelters.

At the time, Housing Commission senior vice president Debra Fischle-Faulk described shelter maintenance issues and client grievances at Golden Hall plus contracting delays, issues with reimbursement requests and suspension disparities.

Fischle-Faulk then wrote that Father Joe’s suspension rate was “significantly higher than the rate of suspension at other similar shelters” and that Black San Diegans were overrepresented on the list, which barred dozens of clients from returning for as little as 24 hours or a longer period that could be permanent. At the time, Fischle-Faulk wrote, 28 percent of city shelter residents were Black, but Blacks made up 39 percent of Father Joe’s suspension list.  

In a series of memos last month, Housing Commission interim vice president Casey Snell commended Father Joe’s for its work on the issues it previously flagged.

“All conditions are now considered cured, and any additional follow-up will take place during routine compliance monitoring activities,” Snell wrote. “We want to thank you and your team for your hard work and for meeting all the goals outlined.”

The most recent available data from the city’s housing agency shows three of the 12 former Father Joe’s clients on the suspension list as of late March were Black, a share that roughly matched the percentage of Black San Diegans staying in city shelters. Father Joe’s at one point had 134 people on its list of people suspended from receiving its services, a total dramatically higher than other city shelter providers. Father Joe’s said at the time its list reflected non-shelter services it also provides including meals and the day center and attempts to minimize safety concerns for all its clients.

Father Joe’s has since worked with the agency to remove clients from its suspension list who haven’t accessed the homeless service system for at least a year, bolster training for staff tied to engagement with clients and to internally review its suspension list on a regular basis. The housing agency also hired Atlanta-based consulting firm Equity in Action to aid the commission and Father Joe’s as they worked on suspension policies.

The commission concluded Father Joe’s has since addressed problems it flagged such as delays executing contracts, reimbursement request issues and managing maintenance incidents. It also noted more Golden Hall clients appeared to be receiving information about the program’s grievance policies and that those who were suspended were also given details to help them challenge that decision if they choose.

“Based on what was observed during the file reviews, clients who are immediately suspended are given a document that states why they’re being suspended, the date and time of their appeal meeting, and with whom they will meet (progressively, the manager then director),” Snell wrote in a June 3 letter to Father Joe’s.

Yet five current and former Golden Hall residents told Voice they were or are fearful of being retaliated against for raising concerns about issues with Father Joe’s program. Two said they were booted from the shelter.

Scott Bennett, 36, said he stayed at Golden Hall for nearly a year before being suspended late last month following what he described as an unprovoked attack by another client. Bennett said Father Joe’s staff didn’t give him paperwork explaining why he was being suspended and that staff claimed ignorance when he asked about appealing the decision. The Housing Commission has called for city shelters to give clients who are suspended documents explaining why they are being suspended and information on how to appeal the suspension if they want to do so.

Bennett said he didn’t retrieve his belongings from the shelter, including clothing, because he feared what might happen if he did.

“I felt very unsafe there to begin with,” said Bennett, who spent multiple nights on the street after the incident. “I don’t know if I could have gone back in or even hung outside there.”

In a statement, Father Joe’s declined to comment directly on Bennett’s situation but defended its practices: “In alignment with San Diego Housing Commission policy, all clients at Father Joe’s Villages shelters have equal access to the appeal and grievance process. FJV investigates and evaluates all incidents. The health and safety of all our clients and staff at FJV is of utmost priority.”

Snell of the housing agency also declined to comment on Bennett’s allegations or whether the housing agency reached out to Father Joe’s after Bennett contacted the commission last week. She did note in an email that the commission generally discusses issues raised by clients with shelter operators when they are made aware of complaints from people who don’t follow up with service providers out of fear of retaliation. She also wrote that the housing agency requires shelter providers to offer those who are suspended a chance to appeal.

“Shelter staff are expected to communicate the cause for the termination of shelter services to the client and to reiterate to the client the process for appealing the decision if the client would like to do so,” Snell wrote.

Snell said that the commission will implement new suspension and appeals policies for all city shelters later this summer that include more detailed requirements to document and communicate suspensions and alternative ways for clients to appeal discipline, including via the Housing Commission.

Bennett said the housing agency helped move him into another shelter program late last week and is also helping him appeal the suspension from Golden Hall though he doesn’t plan to return.

Nathaniel Pruitt Sr., 65, remained at Golden Hall as of last week and described demeaning treatment from staff, overflowing shower drains and conditions and food that don’t meet the needs of people with health issues.

“I hate it here,” said Pruitt, who said he was too scared to submit grievances. “It’s depressing.”

But a 56-year-old resident of the Paul Mirabile Center shelter, who declined to be named due to safety concerns, said conditions have improved there following a series of building issues earlier this year.

She said the shelter facility has been cleaned up and remodeled, and that staff have been kind to her.

“They’re trying different things and I think they’re trying to make it better,” she said.

For now, Father Joe’s has told the 56-year-old and others at the East Village shelter they can seek a bed in the nonprofit’s future sober living program if they qualify.

Both the Paul Mirabile Center and Golden Hall shelters have stopped welcoming new residents. The city and Father Joe’s have pledged all will have a safe place to go when the shelters close. The nonprofit for now is expected to transfer its Golden Hall shelter contract to another site but the city hasn’t revealed a new location.

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