Housing for homeless set to build in El Cajon
Construction is set to begin Friday on two buildings that will provide homeless individuals with temporary housing.
Builders will lay the groundwork on Friday for two dormitories that will house 100 individuals at the East County Transitional Living Center in El Cajon. The center, established in 2004 in a converted hotel at 1527 E. Main St., gives individuals and families experiencing homelessness a roof over their heads and food for 28 days, as well as life skills training, housing navigation, job placement and follow-up care.
After digging trenches to make way for underground utilities on Friday, workers will return on Saturday morning to lay down pipes and add other ironwork along with a concrete pour. The buildings are expected to go up sometime in May in another 24-hour build. The project is four years in the making, including years of fundraising, permitting and planning.
All of the construction work and materials are being funded through private donations, said Pastor Harold Brown, who runs the nonprofit East County Transitional Living Center. Members of the building community and tradesmen are also giving their time to help in the creation of the entire project, he said.
“To work together for such a good purpose is a good draw,” Brown said. “The excitement of the contractors is the big pull, plus the purpose of the goal they are working toward. They never do this so quickly. It takes months and months and years and years.”
Brown said the new buildings will house individual men and women, allowing ECTLC to open up 40 more rooms in its current spaces for homeless families with children. The number of kids living at ECTLC will grow from 160 to 250, Brown said. There are about 320 persons living at the site on Main Street now.
“We have at least 105 families on a waiting list to get in,” Brown said. “My big thing right now is the families. I was homeless myself once and I know that it's the kids who are the victims. We've got kids sleeping in cars and bouncing in and out of hotel rooms. That is not conducive. We want to be able to make that transformation in those kids' lives.”