San Luis Obispo County will increase the amount of funding to build a drug treatment and detox facility next door to its homeless shelter in SLO.
Supervisors approved increasing an existing contract with Community Action Partnership of SLO (CAPSLO) by some $205,000 for the 40 Prado Medication Assisted Residential Treatment Facility, a 2,660 square foot facility located adjacent to the existing homeless services center on Prado Road. It will be owned by CAPSLO but operated by a contractor under the County Behavior Health Department.
The increase is added to previous funding from the County of $500,000 from AB 109, the law that realigned the state prison system and county jails, $207,500 from Mental Health Services Act (MSHA) reserves, for a total of $852,000. The project is also expected to get $557,000 from “other sources,” totaling $1.26 million — the construction cost for the drug treatment facility.
“Behavioral Health and CAPSLO project approximately 200 county residents each year would be served at this new facility,” the County report reads.
The report acknowledges that the costs of the project have risen considerably this year, which has also delayed construction.
“CAPSLO made the request for MHSA funds,” the report said, “as the initial cost estimates to complete construction have increased, in large part due to the delay and economic and supply chain issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Hard costs for materials [for example, lumber] have increased by more than 25%. A construction timeline that pre-COVID would have seen the project completed by the Spring of 2021, has now been pushed into the Summer of 2021.”
The plan is for eight to 10 “flex” beds for SLO County adults, ages 18-64, according to the report. Patients would be expected to stay at the facility six to eight days, “for medication assisted withdrawal treatment and up to 30 days in a residential treatment program while clients prepare to transition to sober living and continued treatment.”
A drug treatment facility has long been needed in SLO County. “The 40 Prado Medication Assisted Residential Treatment Facility is a new project designed to meet a need that has been expressed by the community, local law enforcement agencies, County of San Luis Obispo Drug and Alcohol Services, county and local government, and other social service agencies for over 30 years.”
