August 12, 2026
Shelter Expansion Adds 160 beds for Unhoused Women and Single Women with Children
Rachel’s Promise Center for Women and Children previously provided shelter for up to 50 women at a time
SAN DIEGO—Addressing the shortage of available shelter beds for unhoused women and women with children in the City of San Diego, a public-private collaborative effort has added 160 beds at Rachel’s Promise Center for Women and Children (Rachel’s Promise), a shelter program funded by the City of San Diego and operated by Catholic Charities, Diocese of San Diego through a contract with the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC).
“For the second year in a row, unsheltered homelessness is down in San Diego, declining another 6.6% this year. That progress comes from expanding shelter, strengthening outreach and helping more people move into permanent housing,” Mayor Todd Gloria said. “These 160 new beds at Rachel’s Promise will help us build on that progress by giving more women and families a safe, dignified place to go and the support they need to find a permanent home. I’m grateful to the San Diego Housing Commission, Catholic Charities and our private-sector partners for helping us deliver this important resource.”
“I’m proud to have the newly redesigned and expanded Rachel’s Promise Center for Women and Children here in District 3,” said Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, who represents the area. “This shelter shows what we can accomplish when the City, community partners and the private sector work together. It gives some of our most vulnerable unhoused residents, including women, seniors and mothers with children, a safe place to stay and a path toward greater stability.”
Unhoused women will begin moving into the new shelter space next week. Women with children will start moving in within the next month.
“Too often, families with children who are experiencing homelessness search for shelter, but there aren’t enough options available for them,” SDHC President and CEO Lisa Jones said. “The new beds at Rachel’s Promise will make a meaningful difference — offering women with children and single women a safe place to stay and the support they need to move toward a stable home of their own.”
The shelter expansion increases the total number of beds at Rachel’s Promise to 210—approximately 110 beds for single women and 100 beds for women with children. The first 50 beds for women experiencing homelessness opened at the shelter last year.
“For more than 42 years, Catholic Charities has accompanied women experiencing homelessness and housing instability through our Rachel’s programs, providing compassionate support, safety, and pathways as they journey toward stability and self-sufficiency. The opening of Rachel’s Promise Center for Women and Children marks a transformational milestone in that mission,” Catholic Charities CEO Appaswamy “Vino” Pajanor said. “What began in 2022 as Rachel’s Promise with 40 beds has now grown into a comprehensive and one-of-a-kind center with 210 beds, allowing us, for the first time, to serve women and their children together. Through our partnership with the City of San Diego and the San Diego Housing Commission, we are creating a trauma-informed environment where families can access the resources, stability, and care they need to move forward with dignity, healing, and hope.”
With decades of commercial real estate development experience, property owners Dene Oliver and Jim McMillan worked closely with Catholic Charities on the site design and tenant improvements needed to expand the program’s shelter capacity and create semi-congregate and non-congregate shelter space designed to enhance safety, privacy and dignity for women and children. They also donated furniture and office equipment from the former office site to support ongoing operations and create a welcoming environment.
“A little less than two years ago, I was anchored in Maine off a beautiful island with one of the most incredible sunsets I’ve ever seen. I called Vino Pajanor (who I had not met) to ask if he and Catholic Charities would be interested in joining OliverMcMillan with our vision to create a women and children’s center at the location of OliverMcMillan’s long-term headquarters, Eagles Hall in downtown San Diego,” Dene Oliver said. “We must have talked for 45 minutes in our first conversation, and Vino could not have been more passionate about the vision. When I hung up, I knew my old friends at Catholic Charities and my new friend Vino would be the ones to step forward like no one else and create something that had just not been done before. Twenty-four months later, we are opening Rachel‘s Promise, which we hope will inspire others to serve women and children in evolution with grace and dignity.”
Families staying at the shelter receive a safe place to sleep, meals, clothing, access to shower facilities, laundry, housing-related case management, care coordination, referrals and support for enrollment in health care resources, and assistance applying for public benefits.
Shelter participants are referred to Rachel Promise through the Coordinated Shelter Intake Program, which SDHC administers.
As the contract administrator, SDHC also provided technical assistance to ensure that tenant improvements at the site aligned with the shelter program’s design and operating practices, worked with Catholic Charities and the City of San Diego on the process of reviewing and issuing necessary permits, and worked closely with Catholic Charities’ staff on the composition of the shelter spaces and the populations served at the site.
The shelter program is funded by the City of San Diego and has an annual budget of $5.6 million, which includes program operations and administrative expenses.
The percentage of women and girls experiencing homelessness in SDHC-administered shelter programs funded by the City and/or SDHC rose from 29.9 percent in fiscal year 2021 to approximately 40.5 percent in Fiscal Year 2026. In Fiscal Year 2026, the Coordinated Shelter Intake Program received 2,864 referrals for families seeking shelter, of which 58 were able to be accommodated, equating to a completion rate of 2%. Shelter referrals for families have increased 111% since Fiscal Year 2025, which underlines the need for additional shelter bed capacity.
Connect with SDHC on social media:
###
Media Contact:
Scott Marshall,
Vice President of Communications
San Diego Housing Commission
619-578-7138
scottm@sdhc.org
