{"id":194721,"date":"2026-02-26T12:13:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/194721\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:13:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:13:39","slug":"the-open-door-network-to-expand-services-2-5m-approved-by-city-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/194721\/","title":{"rendered":"The Open Door Network to expand services, $2.5M approved by city council"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 For years, The Open Door Network<\/a>, Bakersfield’s only family shelter, has served some of the most vulnerable residents, including people affected by homelessness, domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and human trafficking. <\/p>\n

Now, the nonprofit is moving forward with a multi-million dollar shelter expansion that would increase bed capacity to more than 350. The City of Bakersfield will allot $2.5 million for construction.<\/p>\n

The council approved the motion 5-1 on Wednesday evening. Lauren Skidmore, The Open Door Network CEO, spoke about the expanding operations during the city council meeting. She said there are plans to build a 74,000 square-foot, four-building “campus,” which will feature many expanded services.<\/p>\n

\"KBAK\/KBFX\"<\/p>\n

The Open Door Network currently operates a 232-bed homeless shelter, provides victims\u2019 services, housing services, childcare, aftercare case management and workforce development.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Local groups defend Bakersfield’s homeless efforts, stress need for resources and patience<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2025, the agency provided shelter services to 682 clients, including 402 children, and housed 80 single women.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the California High Speed Rail Authority purchased the organization\u2019s current campus at 1600 East Truxtun Avenue, setting the agency on a path to expand to a new location. The Open Door Network proposed building a larger shelter to merge functions into one site, serve more people and provide additional programs.<\/p>\n

The expansion is aimed at helping address homelessness in Kern County, where the 2025 Point-In-Time Count<\/a> found 1,398 unsheltered individuals on any given day, including 53 veterans and 149 youth.<\/p>\n

The Open Door Network Shelter Project is under construction at 529 Dolores Street<\/a>. The project includes four separate buildings on 2.94 acres. The shelter\u2019s bed capacity is expected to increase by 100 beds, for a total of over 350 shelter beds.<\/p>\n

Plans for the new four-building site will include on-site childcare with an after-school program, workforce development, educational certificate programs, medical and mental health support, housing services, a dining hall, a donation center, respite care and a children\u2019s museum. The new shelter is also located near the Kern County Department of Human Services and several bus stops, which is expected to reduce transportation barriers for accessing off-site resources.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/p>\n

Photo: The City of Bakersfield (YouTube)<\/p>\n

City funding for the project was included in the city\u2019s budget process. On May 28, 2025, the Fiscal Year 2025-26 Proposed Budget Book was presented to the City Council and included an allocation of $2.5 million in Public Safety\/Vital Services Capital Improvement Project Reserves for the construction of a 350-bed shelter that includes beds for families with children.<\/p>\n

On June 15, 2025, the City Council adopted the Fiscal Year 25-26 budget with the proposed funding adjustment included.<\/p>\n

The project totals $46.5 million, said Skidmore. The remainder of the project is funded through state and federal government grants.<\/p>\n

Skidmore said she expects the new facility to open in the summer of 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 For years, The Open Door Network, Bakersfield’s only family shelter, has served some of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-194721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}