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A new one-stop shop for those experiencing homelessness in the city of Goleta

A new weekly homeless service program at Christ Lutheran Church in Goleta, launched Monday
Caroline Feraday
/
KCLU
A new weekly homeless service program at Christ Lutheran Church in Goleta, launched Monday

The new service launched on Monday.

Maybe it’s getting a meal, or mental health support or housing assistance, the new Weekly Homeless Services Program at Christ Lutheran Church in Goleta aims to provide a one-stop-shop for services for those experiencing homelessness.

"The Neighborhood Navigation Center is to link people to opportunities for housing. We get them all the services that they need and then we work with them hand in hand to get them into permanent housing. And that's really how you end homelessness," said Chuck Flacks, the Homelessness Services Coordinator for the City of Goleta.

Flacks says the there’s 150-200 people who are currently experiencing homelessness in the city.

"Goleta's homeless population is primarily living in cars and also living in encampments along the highway and along the railroad tracks and also in our creeks. So they're not always the most visible," he said.

Flack said the high cost of housing there is the cause, "The cost of housing in Goleta is just astronomical."

Caroline Feraday
/
KCLU

Caroline joined KCLU in October 2020. She won LA Press Club's Audio Journalist of the Year Award in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Since joining the station she's won 10 Golden Mike Awards, 6 Los Angeles Press Club Awards, 2 National Arts & Entertainment Awards and a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Writing.

She started her broadcasting career in the UK, in both radio and television for BBC News, 95.8 Capital FM and Sky News and was awarded the Prince Philip Medal for her services to radio and journalism in 2007.

She has lived in California for eleven years and is both an American and British citizen - and a very proud mom to her daughter, Elsie.