HOUSTON – Santa Maria Hostel, a vital Houston organization serving women and their families affected by substance use disorders, will close one of its three campuses following a significant reduction in federal funding.
The organization, which served more than 12,000 individuals and their families last year, must reduce its service capacity by 40 percent due to a $15 million cut in state-administered federal funding from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
“When I first learned about the reduction in funding, my heart felt heavy,” says Vaughan Gilmore, CEO of Santa Maria Hostel.
The funding reduction will force the closure of the Jacquelyn Treatment and Detox Unit on September 1, 2025.
Gilmore emphasizes the multi-generational impact of their work: “We’re changing women’s lives and we’re changing their children’s lives. When we’re not able to get someone into treatment and services right away because we have less capacity, think about the long-term negative effects for that woman and for her children.”
Autumn Valero, a Project Coordinator & Recovery Support Peer Specialist at the Jacquelyn unit. Her journey exemplifies the organization’s transformative impact - from program participant to staff member.
“Santa Maria and the coaches here and the staff, they loved on me until I could love myself,” says Valero, who will celebrate nine years of recovery this month. “That was huge because there was a time there I couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror because of the shame and the guilt that I had.”
Valero, who joined the staff nearly five years ago, will continue her work at another Santa Maria Hostel location after the closure.
“That’s my purpose - to be a beacon of light for these ladies here,” she says. “If I can do it, they can do it.”While the immediate impact of the funding reduction is significant,
Santa Maria Hostel leadership is actively pursuing alternative funding solutions to support long-term regrowth of their services.
