EHC Lifebuilders receives $75,142 for local shelters
GILROY
A financially troubled nonprofit that operates homeless shelters in Gilroy and San Martin received additional county funding to shore up a deficit and allow it to run a program to shelter homeless during the winter.
The progra provides shelter, food and other services to 500 homeless adults and families per day, and during the year’s coldest and wettest months, nearly 4,000 people seek its services.
At its regular meeting Tuesday in San Jose, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to approve EHC LifeBuilders’ request for an additional $75,142 needed to operate the National Guard Armory shelter in Gilroy and the John H. Boccardo Family Living Center in San Martin. The county is in the final year of a three-year agreement with EHC and funded it $323,564 so far this year.
Faced with chronic underfunding that resulted in a $6.5-million deficit, EHC was forced to nearly half its $13-million operating budget and lay off 44 percent of its employees. EHC’s chief executive Jennifer Loving said the organization’s annual budget would be roughly $7 million following a transition plan currently being implemented.
