Welcome Home Village Begins Serving Residents Helping People Move from Bob Jones Trail Encampments into Housing

Author: Executive Office
Date: 9/9/2026 3:41 PM

More than a dozen people who had been living on or around the Bob Jones Trail are new residents of Welcome Home Village

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The San Luis Obispo County-led supportive housing project Welcome Home Village marked a milestone in a collaborative effort to address homelessness in San Luis Obispo this week. More than a dozen people who have been living unsheltered in and around the Bob Jones Bike Trail are beginning a new chapter as residents of Welcome Home Village, a supportive housing community developed by the County of San Luis Obispo on Bishop Avenue in San Luis Obispo.

Welcome Home Village is the culmination of a multi-year effort by the County of San Luis Obispo, the City of San Luis Obispo and community partners to address encampments along the Bob Jones Bike Trail while providing people living there with a meaningful pathway out of homelessness. Located on the County’s Health Agency Campus in San Luis Obispo, it includes 40 permanent supportive housing units and 14 interim supportive housing units. Good Samaritan Shelter operates the Village and provides residents with individualized case management and supportive services designed to address the circumstances that contributed to their homelessness and help them achieve long-term housing stability.

“This is what progress on homelessness looks like — giving people a real opportunity to move indoors and begin rebuilding their lives,” said San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors Chair Jimmy Paulding. “Welcome Home Village represents years of work, significant investment and strong partnerships. Most importantly, it is another example of how we are putting our Five-Year Plan to Address Homelessness into action, pairing housing with the services and accountability people need to move toward lasting stability.”

Welcome Home Village is part of the larger Bob Jones Bike Trail Encampment Resolution Project, made possible through a $13.4 million Encampment Resolution Fund grant awarded to the County of San Luis Obispo by the State of California. The effort combines outreach, housing and encampment resolution to address homelessness along the Bob Jones Trail corridor. The City of San Luis Obispo has been an important partner in the project, working with the County and service providers on outreach to people living along the trail and efforts to restore impacted areas for the broader community.

District 3 Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg, who represents the area where Welcome Home Village is located, and lives in the neighborhood, has been closely involved with the project throughout its development. The arrival of residents represents an especially meaningful milestone.

“We have talked for years about the need to approach homelessness with both compassion and accountability. Today, we are seeing that put into practice,” said Supervisor Ortiz-Legg. “People who have been living outside along the Bob Jones Trail now have a door they can close, a safe place to sleep and professionals alongside them helping them take the next steps forward. At the same time, the County of San Luis Obispo is addressing the very real impacts that unmanaged encampments have had on our neighborhoods, businesses, open spaces and the trail.”

“Priority for placement at Welcome Home Village is being given to individuals who have been living in and around the Bob Jones Bike Trail corridor on the south side of San Luis Obispo,” said Mayor Erica Stewart. “Outreach teams have worked with potential residents in advance of their move, connecting them with case managers and services and helping prepare them for the transition into supportive housing.”

Welcome Home Village is designed around the understanding that housing alone may not resolve the circumstances that led someone to homelessness. Residents receive individualized support that can include behavioral health services, health care connections, benefits assistance, employment support, life-skills development and assistance transitioning to long-term housing. The location on the County Health Agency Campus also places residents within walking distance of County behavioral health and other critical services.
As residents transition into Welcome Home Village, outreach and encampment-resolution work along the Bob Jones Trail will continue in coordination among the County, City and service providers.