Father Joe’s Villages CEO Deacon Jim Vargas was shocked when San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s initial city budget for next year was released. It showed zero funding for downtown’s Neil Good Day Center.
Vargas, who has oversight of the Day Center, said every year has been a struggle to maintain funding for the multipurpose facility of basic services for homeless individuals.
“But this year wasn’t a matter of funding,” Vargas said. “This year was a matter of closing.”
Funding for the Day Center, located on 17th Street in East Village and first opened in 1991, has been part of recent public conversation as the mayor and city council attempt to close a citywide $120-million budget gap. Vargas said the wrangling is over how much money the city will provide to help transition the Day Center to another location.
“If there’s no funding, it will close on June 30,” Vargas said.
He said the best-case scenario at this point is for the city to help fund six months of operation so Father Joe’s can transition the Day Center to a new location. Keeping the Day Center open until the end of the year would require $850,000. Vargas said Father Joe’s would pay half of that ($425,000) if the city would match the amount.
The city’s Independent Budget Analyst recently recommended the city could provide $237,000 in funding.
Timeline note: Mayor Gloria proposed the city’s $6.4 billion budget in April, followed by a “May Revise.” The IBA report with recommended modifications was released on June 2. The city council will review modifications and vote on the budget on June 9.
The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment regarding the Day Center. In April, a mayoral spokesperson told KPBS no final decision had been made about it.
San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, whose district includes downtown, recently told The San Diego Sun that improving the city’s finances requires cuts to many programs, including homelessness services.
“While the Day Center unquestionably provides valuable services, my top priority is preserving shelter beds so we don’t force people back out onto the streets,” Whitburn said via email. “I expect the final budget will keep people sheltered, and will also include funding to wind down the Day Center gradually so that key services may be relocated.”
Vargas steadfastly insists it’s a huge mistake to close the Day Center. In a city struggling with homelessness issues, he says the facility has been extremely effective in providing basic services that meet the needs of unhoused individuals, which helps keep them on track to find housing.
“The city cannot claim homelessness is a top priority while simultaneously dismantling one of the most heavily used access points into the homelessness response system,” Vargas said.
The Day Center represents less than one percent of the city’s homelessness spending, and serves nearly 7,000 individuals annually, Vargas said.
It’s not a shelter. People use the Day Center to shower, use the restroom, receive mail, access medical care and connect with outreach workers.
From June 2024 to July 2025, the Day Center delivered more than 97,000 services during 40,000 client contacts, according to Vargas. Mail services were used nearly 40,000 times. More than 25,000 showers were taken.
Vargas notes that giving people a place to receive mail and get work-related services enables them to find jobs or stay employed.
He says restrooms and showers contribute to better hygiene. “That serves the individuals as well as the community,” Vargas says.
He recalls outbreaks of Shigella (2021) and Hepatitis A (2016) in downtown San Diego. The latter killed 20 people and infected nearly 600 San Diegans. Both causes were linked to a lack of bathrooms and showers easily available to homeless individuals.
A last-resort location for a new Day Center could be Father Joe’s Villages’ crowded downtown campus, Vargas said.
The campus already offers a continuum of care to help individuals and families transition out of homelessness. There’s housing and shelter, healthcare and wellness programs, children and family services and job training.
In 2025, Father Joe’s opened a 44-bed detox facility and sober recovery shelter on the campus.
“We won’t ever offer less of those services,”Vargas said. “We’re evaluating if we could move the Day Center here.”
His emphatic plea is that “the city council does the right thing and funds the Day Center for the remainder of the year.”
He reiterates that closing the Day Center is reckless and deeply inhumane.
“This sends a devastating message to our neighbors experiencing homelessness,” Vargas said. “That their basic dignity, health and stability are expendable when budgets become difficult.” SDSun
