SAN MARCOS — Interfaith Community Services is partnering with the city of San Marcos to establish a 150-bed substance use disorder treatment facility along West Mission Road, pending the approval of state funding for the project.
On Tuesday, the San Marcos City Council approved an agreement with Interfaith and San Marcos United Methodist Church to establish a recovery and wellness campus at the church’s property at 800 West Mission Road. The item was approved as part of the consent calendar and was not pulled for discussion.
Interfaith is seeking funding through California’s Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) to cover around 90% of the total project cost, estimated to be between $40 million and $60 million. BHCIP will announce grant recipients in May.
“Together, Interfaith Community Services, San Marcos United Methodist Church, and Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation are in the initial phases of creating a safe and secure San Marcos Recovery & Wellness Campus that would address the dire need for increased substance abuse treatment,” Interfaith CEO Greg Anglea said. “Following submission of a grant application to the State of California late last year, our team is waiting to hear if funding might be awarded.”
“As we prepare for next steps and possible funding that would make the project possible, the team plans comprehensive outreach, listening, and education with the community,” Anglea continued.
Interfaith first reached out to the city about the idea for the facility in December when they applied for BHCIP funding, according to San Marcos Housing and Neighborhood Services Director Sylvia Daniels.
Daniels said that a facility of this kind would provide crucial recovery services and would align with the city’s Housing Element obligations to provide shelter space.
“We’re just excited about the opportunity for the partnership with Interfaith,” Daniels said. “I think the fact that it wasn’t brought up and wasn’t pulled from the consent calendar acknowledges that it has full council support.”
If Interfaith is chosen for the BHCIP grant, it would fund the construction of a new 150-bed campus for substance use treatment and recovery. The funding would also grant the project by-right status, requiring the city to approve it ministerially.
However, Daniels said there will be opportunities to provide public input as the project goes through the city’s formal planning and permitting process.
The Mission Road property is owned by San Marcos United Methodist Church, but sits largely unused after the church merged with First United Methodist Church of Escondido. The Montessori School of San Marcos also operates on the property.
Lead Pastor Lisa Petty said that while there are still many details to pin down regarding the treatment center project, she sees this as an opportunity to answer the church’s call to love all people, especially considering how many people are affected by addiction.
“My thoughts were, what a great idea for a space that really sits pretty fallow outside of the school … and how could we use it to help people in need in our community, with the recognition that we continue to see overdoses with fentanyl on the rise, we see alcohol abuse on the rise, and there’s so much need? What does it look like for us to help address this in conjunction with our community?” Petty said.
Petty also recognized that people may have concerns or questions about this type of facility. She said that if the funding is granted and plans move forward, retaining walls and fences would separate the treatment campus from the Montessori School.
“I want to assure people that these are all things we have thought about, and want to have conversations with the community about, to hear them, address them, and make sure we can help people,” she said.
Need for treatment beds
Under the agreement, Interfaith would lease the property from San Marcos United Methodist Church. One building would house the residential treatment program, and another would house the withdrawal management program.
The center would have a 35-bed congregate withdrawal management program, a 90-bed residential treatment program with 47 rooms, and 25 post-hospitalization beds where those completing treatment will be provided with up to six months of transitional sober living.
The majority of the residential treatment and withdrawal management beds would be funded by Medi-Cal in addition to other payers like STOP, private insurance, and self-pay. CalAIM contracts with managed care plans would fund post-hospitalization beds.
The site would also feature 24/7 security and staffing, a secure lobby and welcome area, a professional catering kitchen and dining hall, meeting spaces for one-on-one treatment, group and family visits, gym and physical therapy spaces, outdoor walking, seating and recreation areas.
San Diego County is chronically low on places for people to detox safely, with individuals voluntarily seeking recovery resources often facing long wait times to get into a program. The county has 998 active substance use treatment beds, 100 of which are for withdrawal management, according to county Health and Human Services Agency spokesperson Tim McClain.
The implementation of Senate Bill 43 in January has also made it easier for those with severe substance use disorders to be forced into treatment, further increasing the need for beds.
SB 43 changed the definition of what constitutes “gravely disabled” to include those who cannot ensure that they get necessary medical care due to their substance use, and individuals who meet these criteria and end up in the hospital can be kept there on short-term holds.
While this hold would ideally give the hospital time to find a detox or recovery bed for the individual, the lack of beds makes this difficult.
McClain said there are several ongoing and upcoming projects that will expand the county’s substance use treatment services.
These include the Tri-City Psychiatric Health Facility opening this summer for individuals with mental health and co-occurring conditions, the Substance Use Residential & Treatment Services facility in the South Region which will add over 70 residential substance use beds by July 2026, and 49 new recuperative care beds countywide opening in the next several months.
“The County is working to further improve the overall substance use treatment system by enhancing critical substance use care options – which include transitional support, residential care, outpatient care, and housing resources,” McClain said.
The San Marcos facility would allow Interfaith to expand its substance use disorder programs, using the model of its Recovery and Wellness Center in Carlsbad. The organization also recently gained approval to open up to 59 withdrawal treatment beds at its former emergency shelter space in Escondido.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated to include additional information from San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency.
