Fresno homeless shelter on Blackstone abruptly closes, causing layoffs and leaving at least 200 people in limbo

A shelter for homeless and medically fragile individuals along Fresno’s Blackstone corridor abruptly announced on Tuesday that it would shut down operations, leaving city leaders scrambling to find answers for the 250 or so people suddenly facing the possibility of returning to the streets.

Residents remained housed Wednesday at the Soul Housing homeless shelter – formerly a Motel 6 – on Blackstone, north of Ashlan Avenue, but it wasn’t immediately clear how long they might get to remain.

The closure also leaves dozens of people unemployed, though exact figures weren’t immediately available Wednesday.

The shelter, run by LA-based Soul Housing, had been open for only five months, and was designed to temporarily house people who were homeless for recuperative care after being discharged from the hospital.

In a statement to Fresnoland on Wednesday, Mayor Jerry Dyer said the city was “shocked to learn” about the homeless shelter’s closure this week. He said the city was “assured” that “no one would be displaced” by the shutdown when they were first informed of the news.

“Unfortunately, the sudden and unplanned nature of this early closure put more than 200 individuals at immediate risk of losing housing and vital care — a situation that is simply unacceptable,” Dyer said in the statement. “Despite the incredibly short notice, our local service providers immediately stepped in to respond to this crisis.”

Dyer specifically acknowledged the efforts of RH Community Builders, Poverello House, and CalViva Health with what he described as their “swift action, compassion, and leadership.”

RH Community Builders, a Fresno-area homeless shelter provider, has taken interim control of the shelter, according to Katie Wilbur, executive director at RH Community Builders.

The homeless shelter’s closure also brought on a mass layoff of Soul Housing staff. RH Community Builders held a hiring event on Wednesday morning looking to help absorb some of the recently-laid-off staff following the closure. 

Wilbur said that more than 120 people showed up to the RH Community Builders’ offices on Wednesday morning. Wilbur said her organization only had the capacity to hire 35 people. 

Several now former-Soul Housing employees stood in the long-line outside RH Community offices, hoping to land one of the few 35 remaining jobs. All declined to comment on the record.

Wilbur told Fresnoland that RH Community Builders asked the city for $100,000 in emergency operating cash to take over at least parts of the shuttering shelter, but said that request was denied.

“They said they don’t have the money,” Wilbur said. 

Two of the city’s homeless shelters announced this summer that they would shut down at the end of the year due to a lack of funding.

Wilbur said the fault of the closures lies solely with Soul Housing. 

“I think that the biggest thing that we heard coming out of this, was like, ‘Oh, this is the city’s fault, or this is CalVIVA and Health Net’s fault,’ Wilbur said. “It’s neither of their fault. This is Soul Housing’s fault. They’ve known for a long enough period that their contract was being terminated. They continued operations and then decided at the eleventh hour that they were going to make it somebody else’s problem.”

Soul Housing told Fresnoland in response over email on Wednesday that they had “no interest in mudslinging.” 

“While we wish that Health Net had informed us sooner that a continuity-of-care and transition plan would not be provided for their members, when it became clear that no such plan would materialize, Fresno’s community responded with extraordinary speed and collaboration,” the emailed statement said. “Soul Housing worked closely with Mayor Dyer, RH Builders, and local partners to ensure that every participant could continue receiving the support and stability they need. This unified response from leadership and beyond reflects the commitment to compassion and care we share with Fresno.”