‘Oh my God, hot water!’: SLO County group launches shower program for Morro Bay homeless

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When she was homeless, Wendy Blacker often went weeks to months without being clean.

Though she’s had a roof over her head the past two and a half years — the first time she’s had a place to call her own — Blacker said she still remembers the discomfort of being unclean while staying in homeless encampments near Morro Bay.

“Euphoria is not even the word — it was almost a religious moment, like ‘Oh my God, hot water!’” Blacker told The Tribune. “It was just so life-changing, and you don’t forget that feeling.”

In the years since being housed, Blacker has worked to help people experiencing homelessness through her 805 Street Outreach nonprofit, distributing food, water and medicine out of her own pocket.

Most recently, 805 Street Outreach has expanded its services to bring that same relief to Morro Bay’s homeless population through its new shower trailer, which has two stalls outfitted with showers, sinks and toilets.

Starting Feb. 5, the nonprofit rolled out a new program that offers free showers and hygienic care to homeless individuals in Morro Bay on the first and third Mondays of the month between noon and 3 p.m., Blacker said.

Using the Morro Bay Library’s parking lot as a staging ground, Blacker said she expects the program to serve between 15 and 30 individuals at each event.

Pete Dougherty, one of the program’s first clients, has been living out of his vehicle in Morro Bay the past month and said he was pleasantly surprised to see a hygiene program opening in the area.

Dougherty said he had not showered in around a month when he found the shower program, and was glad to make use of its “spacious” showers and hot water.

“I surf, so surfing has been my shower recently,” Dougherty said. “I rinsed off in the Morro Bay showers once, but having a legit, warm shower has probably been a few weeks.”

Nonprofit founder uses lived experience in outreach

As a former 15-year resident of encampments along the North Coast, Blacker said she can understand the reasons why individuals may refuse resources such as showers, as many long-term homeless individuals are hesitant to engage with services.

Now volunteering as a substance abuse counselor, Blacker said her own experiences with drug use, incarceration and raising children while homeless have made connecting with outreach and shower clients easier for her.

“I didn’t want to forget where I came from,” Blacker said. “Me doing what I’m doing is a part of my recovery.”

Blacker said working with the city of Morro Bay and the Morro Bay Police Department to get the program running also provided the opportunity to confront her past and make amends.

“I went up to (Chief Amy Watkins) when she met me as a service provider and I shook her hand and said, ‘I’m so sorry for being the a--hole I once was. I’m sorry for tearing your community,’” Blacker told The Tribune. “And she stopped me and she was like, ‘I’m sorry for every cop that made you feel less than.’”

Blacker said she got her shower trailer for free in October from Hope’s Village of San Luis Obispo, a nonprofit focused on tiny housing, after it had sat unused at the Gryphon Society, an Atascadero organization that helps people getting out of jail or prison who often suffer from substance abuse issues.

In future shower events, 805 Street Outreach will be accompanied by medical professionals with Dignity Health and representatives from organizations including the Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo and Transitions Mental Health Association to connect people with food, housing and counseling services.

The shower service coincides with a free community dinner at the Veterans Hall hosted by the Lions Club and the city every Monday night, Watkins told The Tribune in January when the ordinance was approved.

Once the program is more established, shower events will look more like Shower the People’s more established weekly shower events in San Luis Obispo, offering free underwear and shirts to clients in need, Blacker said.

According to a news release from Shower the People, as of December 2023, the nonprofit has provided more than 20,000 free showers in San Luis Obispo County since opening.

Shower the People’s shower sites operate five days a week, serving 335 first-time guests and providing 7,321 showers last year, the release said.

In addition to hot showers, the organization has provided a total of 5,304 new pairs of socks, 4,513 new pairs of underwear, 4,939 new t-shirts, as well as countless toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, and hand sanitizers in 2023 alone, the release said.

“It has been through the generosity of our community that we’ve been able to achieve this milestone and continue giving hundreds of people the chance to bathe with privacy and dignity on a consistent basis,” Shower the People SLO founder Gwen Watkins said in the release. “By helping them meet this basic human need, we are improving the health and welfare of our local unhoused, and creating opportunities for them to build confidence and self-esteem that could potentially improve their situation.”

Program rolls out as city restricts camping, parking

Blacker’s new program started operations around the same time the city’s new parking and camping ordinances went into effect.

The new ordinances ban camping within 200 feet of residential areas, schools, playgrounds, visitor-serving commercial areas, infrastructure integral to the operation of the city or high fire zones, and in areas that would impede access to public or private property.

The camping ordinance also prohibits camping in vehicle and bicycle lanes, along with Morro Bay City Hall, the Community Center and Veterans Hall.

Lisa Abbatista, a homeless resident in Morro Bay, said she’s already come up against the parking and camping restrictions while living in her car.

Though Abbatista’s interactions with the police since the new ordinances went into effect have been generally positive, she said she already noticed some confusion among homeless residents on where they could legally stay for the night.

Adding to that confusion, the ordinance’s prohibition on camping in one spot for more than 24 hours was more difficult to deal with during the recent storms, leaving homeless residents with less time than ever to work on goals such as housing, jobs and service requests, Abbatista said.

“The rain is our enemy,” Abbatista said.

She said she understood why the city was making efforts to prohibit encampments from forming and was glad that the Morro Bay Police Department had been “lenient” and understanding with homeless residents so far.

“There are people in this town that are homeless, and they live that lifestyle — they set up a spot at night, get up in the morning, pack it up and they go to their job,” Abbatista said. “It’s doable, but when you’re not used to that, and you’ve got a camp spot set where you can come home and relax at your leisure, it’s a lot different.”

Blacker said she supported the ordinance and was excited to be a part of the solution, but said she could understand why homeless residents would take issue with the new restrictions on camping.

“They’re not trying to criminalize homelessness,” Blacker said. “What they’re trying to do is clean up the city.”