HAYWARD -- Young adults experiencing homelessness in South Alameda County now have a new place of refuge to find shelter, support and services.
After years of delays, Covenant House opened this week. The shelter is expected to eventually serve 30 homeless young adults between 18 to 24 years old, with a current capacity of 15.
Those involved have been awaiting the shelter's opening since 2021 when Covenant House, a nonprofit shelter and homeless services organization, first announced the location.
"When young folks are (experiencing homelessness) in Hayward, or in the Tri-Cities area, where do they go? Usually they're thrown in with the wolves and left," Socorro "Cori" Moreland, director of Covenant House Hayward, told this news organization. "There's nothing here."
But now, Moreland said, that's changing. After years of waiting, the Covenant House on Saturday will host a ribbon cutting event to commemorate its official opening at 27221 Tyrrell Ave.
"A lot of folks know we're opening," Moreland said. "Now we're here."
The shelter, built on land leased by Hayward Unified School District, currently has three portable three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes and another double-wide, handicap accessible community center building. The nonprofit expects to receive more portable homes to expand capacity to 30 residents by the end of the year.
Covenant House operates shelters throughout the country with several locations in California, including other Bay Area shelters in Oakland and Santa Clara.
The shelter is focused on young adults, Moreland said, because that particular age group is "often exploited and victimized" at adult shelters, "so they don't go there."
"They'd rather sleep outside," Moreland said.
Because they are at a developmentally vulnerable stage, he said, young adults experiencing homelessness are more effectively able to change their situation with specialized shelter and support services designed specifically for them.
At Covenant House, Moreland said, young adults are "able to get on track at their own pace," instead of getting rushed through the county's inundated adult shelter system and quickly displaced back on the streets.
Hayward in recent years saw an uptick in homeless residents, according to the county's Point In Time Count. In 2024, the city had about 512 homeless residents - up from 381 in 2022 and 487 in 2019. More than 55 of those in 2024, or about 11%, were between the ages of 18 and 24.
The county in total had 9,450 homeless residents in 2024, according to census data.
Until now, the only young-adult focused shelter in the county was Covenant House's Oakland location.
"It is the first south county shelter for 18-24 year olds," said Ami Rowland, Covenant House's chief program officer. "It has been a missing component in the homelessness response system, to have some south county resources."
Rowland said the shelter offers stays for residents of up to 90 days or longer, depending on availability and other factors, which includes daily meals, laundry services, shared community space and case workers who can help connect people to housing and other support services.
"We just keep trying to open the door, meet them where they're at and not leave them there," Rowland said.