Vista BCNC shelter receives $2M from state

By Gary Warth

Oct. 5, 2026

State Sen. Catherine Blakespear this week presented a $2 million check to help finance the Buena Creek Navigation Center, which city officials said was money well spent.

“Our stats here at the Buena Creek Navigation Center are better than any other shelter in the county, because we have a model that puts the dignity of people first,” said City Council Member Katie Melendez at an Oct. 5 ceremony to accept the check.

Vista Mayor John Franklin noted that the BCNC is called a navigation center rather than a shelter because it does more than just provide an overnight stay.

“We call it a navigation center because this is not a place to take a respite or a break from being homeless,” he said. “This is a place to come to solve homelessness. This is a place where we want you to put homelessness behind you for good. This is a place where we love you, where we provide you with all the medical, mental health, dental and other needs that you have so that you can become a well person again, re-enter society, develop a relationship with your family and hopefully exit homelessness forever.”

Franklin also raised some issues with the city’s approach to homelessness by saying there should be a two-pronged approach, with more enforcement and the threat of jail needed to get people off the street.

The navigation center opened in January 2024 and as of last month had served 587 people.

Unlike many congregate shelters that have a large room filled with bunk beds, the navigation center has individual rooms, and Retread Housing Services provides case managers who connect clients to a variety of services to help them overcome homelessness-related issues and find housing.

A presentation to the City Council in August reported that 57% of the clients had positive exits either through permanent or temporary housing, with 225 people moving into permanent housing.

While the center has been considered a success, Vista officials have sought a location for a city-owned shelter, but so far have not found a property to buy. In August, the council agreed to extend its lease agreement with the owner of the BCNC property for another year.

The city contracts with Retread for $1.8 million annually and pays $500,000 to lease the building.

Blakespear had helped bring $5 million to Vista to open the center, and presented a ceremonial check representing the latest $2 million she helped secure to continue its operation.

“This is really something that I’m tremendously proud of and use as an example of the type of partnership that we need between state and local governments,” Blakespear said.

“We are able to use state money together with local will and leadership and also local money to turn something into reality that was not a reality, and that is just unbelievably satisfying because there are so many times in government when what you’re doing is not actually resulting in the thing that you were hoping it would result in,” she added.

Retread Executive Director Hannah Gailey said the personal attention staff members give to clients has resulted in the center’s level of success.

“We came in with a desire to help people and built on that,” she said. “That was really our qualification coming in. We really, really cared about people. Ninety percent of our staff has lived experience in addiction and/or homelessness. And I think that sets us apart. When someone comes in and can draw on their faith and can draw on their own experience, that creates a level of empathy that you just really can’t manufacture.”

Council Member Dan O’Donnell said the navigation center had set a benchmark that the state should follow, and Council Member Corinna Contreras praised Retread’s multifaceted approach to helping people.

“Financial literacy is not enough to end homelessness,” she said. “Having warehouses of people and calling it a shelter is not enough. Folks deserve dignity every day of their lives, and that’s what we get to provide here.”