A big shelter for homeless residents in San Bernardino is scheduled to open its doors in March.
The San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus is one of two navigation centers coming to the city this year.
“It’s important to have a safe place to lay your head so you can focus on the other things, like your employment and mental health,” said Frances Hale, vice president of philanthropy and external communications for Lutheran Social Services of Southern California.
Navigation centers provide easy access to temporary shelter and food for homeless people. Two centers are expected to open in San Bernardino this year, with the 140-bed San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus opening in mid-March. They’re intended to get homeless residents off the streets quickly and connect them to other support services, all in one location. (The other navigation center, the SB Hope Campus, is scheduled to open at the end of the year.)
The nearly finished San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus housing units are seen on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The complex includes 140 apartments and aims to provide rooms for homeless residents while connecting them with support programs. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Construction crews work on the San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors recently approved a $1.48 million grant to help complete construction. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Justin Lee, construction superintendent, tours the nearly finished San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus housing units on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The complex includes 140 apartments and aims to provide rooms for homeless residents while connecting them with support programs. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
A housing unit at the San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus is seen on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The complex includes 140 apartments, each providing space for a bed and desk for a homeless resident, while connecting them with support programs. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
The nearly finished San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus housing units are seen on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The complex includes 140 apartments and aims to provide rooms for homeless residents while connecting them with support programs. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Construction workers continue work on the San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The center aims to provide housing for homeless residents and connect them with support programs. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
The computer room at the nearly finished San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus is seen on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Justin Lee, construction superintendent, tours the nearly finished San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The complex includes 140 apartment units for homeless residents while connecting them with support programs. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
The San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus is nearing completion on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino, and a construction crew works on site. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
The kitchen at the San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus is nearing completion on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors recently approved a $1.48 million grant to help complete the project. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
The cafeteria at the San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus is nearing completion on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The center aims to provide housing for homeless residents and connect them with support programs, including food, clothing, bus passes and document services. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Construction workers put finishing touches on the San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The center aims to provide rooms for homeless residents and connect them with support programs. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Construction workers put finishing touches on the San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The center aims to provide rooms for homeless residents and connect them with support programs. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
The San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus office spaces are nearly finished on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The complex includes resource rooms for homeless residents. The county Board of Supervisors recently approved a $1.48 million grant to help complete construction. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
The cafeteria at the San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus is nearing completion on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The county Board of Supervisors approved a $1.48 million grant to help complete construction. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
The resident entrance at the San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The site is nearing completion and aims to provide housing for homeless residents and connect them with support programs. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Construction crews work on the San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino, as the site nears completion. The center aims to provide housing for homeless residents and connect them with support programs. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
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The nearly finished San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus housing units are seen on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Bernardino. The complex includes 140 apartments and aims to provide rooms for homeless residents while connecting them with support programs. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
“We embrace, equip, empower. We embrace people where they are,” Hale said. “We look at where the individual is and evaluate what’s best for them. That’s always the first step: Seeing what they need and taking them in.”
The new site, on the 1300 block of North G Street, will provide a variety of services for residents for up to six months they’re there. That includes mental health services, but also job preparedness training, transportation services to take residents to appointments and helping them get their high school equivalency certificate and replacements for identification they may have lost. Some of the classes, like financial literacy courses, will be open to the public, as will an on-site food bank.
“We want to make sure that people can get what they need, obviously, to be independent,” Hale said.
All those staying at the all-male campus — homeless men outnumber homeless women in San Bernardino 2 to 1, according to city officials — will have a personal plan to help them get into stable housing of their own.
“It’s not like a hotel where people just come and go,” Hale said. “They know the goal is to transition out.”
But in the meantime, the campus is intended as a safe and stable place to reset.
“Anyone who’s searched for housing in California will understand the challenges,” Hale said. “Our participants have the challenge of doing that without perhaps a solid employment record or a stable address.”
Lutheran Social Services of Southern California expects the San Bernardino Community Wellness Campus to receive its certificate of occupancy in mid-March. At that point, staff will begin setting up the 140 interim housing single-person apartments, with move-ins coming soon after. By mid-May, the organization expects the site to be 90% occupied. The site is also home to an existing emergency shelter that has about 86 beds.
The $35 million project is largely funded by state Homekey funds.
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors voted at their Feb. 10 meeting to approve a grant for up to $1.48 million for the center, with the money ultimately coming from California Department of Health Care Services’ Housing and Homelessness Incentive Program. The city of San Bernardino is contributing an additional $1.8 million in Permanent Local Housing Allocation funds.
San Bernardino has the highest rate of homelessness among cities in the Inland Empire, with 682 homeless people per 100,000 residents, more than triple the San Bernardino County average.
Forty percent of San Bernardino County’s homeless residents live in San Bernardino, according to the 2025 Point in Time Count. The count found 1,535 people were homeless in the city of San Bernardino, up 8% from 2024. (This year’s Point in Time count took place Jan. 22. Its results are expected in summer.)
