Good Samaritan Shelter 401 West Morrison Avenue, Santa Maria, CA 93458

"I wanted to say that the Santa Maria Shelter has helped me in my most difficult of time and being honest with them has opened doors for me and those like myself who are truly trying to get their lives back together. I thank them and the community members and businesses who go out of their busy lives to help those in need like myself. I am truly grateful and appreciative. THANK YOU :)"

"Staff is unprofessional at best, malicious and petty at worst. Even the "good" staff members discriminate against or look down upon homeless people. April in particular really enjoys condescending to clients, and cannot be trusted to complete the simplest requests without first disrespecting the client. If you have any accomodations needed, not only will they not be met(after you try to get approved before hand) but you will also be talked to as though you are worthless. Case managers are even worse. Yolanda shows no professional attitude: she either acts as your best friend or talks to you like a middle school bully. Janie is useless and incompetent, and frequently issues notices to clients with incorrect or outdated information and typos. All of them make false promises on housing opportunities and show no sympathy when those promises fall through. But if the client doesn't deliver on their "promises" they will not be understanding because: They do not care, at all, about homeless people."

"It's degradation and pretty much prison for families. RUN don't walk out of there. 1 out of 30 may actually get help from staff here. You have a better chance, educating yourself, getting your life organized, and frankly coughing up money that life will demand from you. I've gotten on my feet 2x in 5 years. Completely crazy circumstances can happen to ANYONE. There's various paths to a roof over your head and not all work for everyone. Don't count on these ppl, they're demeaning and will make you feel worse for just being there. Good luck."

"You have to leave the shelter from around 8am to 4:30pm, rain or shine (or freezing cold). If you have a place you can go in the daytime and you can get there without a problem, then no worries. Most people don't have that and I thought it was terrible to put people out in all weather. There can be good and bad days with staff. The real issue, in my opinion, isn't how good or bad a shelter is but how invested you are in moving on and getting out of them. Unless you don't mind the inevitable roller coaster ride you'll be on living around people you don't know and having no privacy, you should formulate a plan as soon as you get into a shelter and work hard at it every day until you can move on."

"Well I am thankful for the opportunity they have given my family member a chance to get clean and sober … I will let you know how it goes. I pray this is the help I have been praying for. We all need help sometimes. We are on this earth to help each other. We shall see."