The Santa Barbara Rescue Mission is a ministry of Christian people bringing physical, emotional, educational and spiritual resources to all who struggle with homelessness and addiction.

The Santa Barbara Rescue Mission has served the county and city of Santa Barbara for over 50 years, providing emergency services and long-term recovery for the homeless and addicted. With 80 beds for men and 20 for women, we are the only emergency shelter that is open 365 nights of the year from Santa Maria to Ventura. In 2016, we provided 143,051 meals and 51,627 safe nights of shelter for individuals with no place else to turn.

Because substance abuse has a sizable impact on our community and is often a contributing factor to homelessness, we focus 85% of our resources on recovery efforts employing residential modalities. The Mission’s 12-month residential recovery program aims to bring individuals from decades of addiction, institutionalization, and homelessness back to sobriety, health and wholeness. Certification through the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs ensures that participants receive the highest standard of treatment in a non-medical facility. The recovery programs are operated in two separate (24 W. Arrellaga and 535 E. Yanonali St.) gender-specific locations for 45 men and 24 women. In 2016, 44 people completed the recovery program, joining over 723 graduates since 1997. Our most significant accomplishment is the long-term change we see in our graduates. In contrast to national statistics that show only 21% of those who complete addiction recovery programs not returning to dependency within five years (SAMHSA, 1998), more than 53% of our graduates maintain recovery over this same time period.

The Rescue Mission’s comprehensive programs include family support, addiction education, relapse prevention, transitional housing, career development and placement.