The Stay Over Program is a located at Buena Vista Horace Mann Community School (BVHM) K-8 School in the Mission District. The program is a cross-sector collaboration between San Francisco Unified School District, City of San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) and Dolores Street Community Services. In 2017, sixty-four families whose children attend BVHM lacked safe or stable housing. In order to provide a safe place for these housing insecure BVHM families to sleep at night, the school leadership proposed piloting an overnight sleeping program for up to 20 BVHM families (with a maximum of 60 individuals) at a time, in the school’s gymnasium. Dolores Street Community Services was selected as the provider of the Stay Over Program which began operating the program on November 15, 2018. Our program works to connect participating families with resources and services and services to help them secure a more stable housing situation.
The Dolores Shelter Program provides emergency shelter and meal service to dozens of individuals every night. The majority of shelter guests are recent immigrants from Latin America, and many work as day-laborers. One of the primary goals of the program is to prevent newly-homeless individuals from falling into the cycle of long-term homelessness. Our case management services, combined with the small size and community-based nature of the shelters help us to meet that goal. The program recently added 24 additional beds, specifically targeted as a safe space for LGBT people who are homeless.
The Richard M. Cohen Residence, a 10-unit residential care facility for formerly homeless men and women with disabling HIV/AIDS, provides an array of services including nursing and social work case management, 24-hour attendant care, meal services, and social activities designed to stabilize the health and enhance the well-being of residents.
Casa Quezada is a 52-unit supportive housing site for formerly homeless individuals with special needs, many of whom have transitioned from our shelter program and who are monolingual Spanish-speaking immigrants with limited access to other subsidized housing in San Francisco. In partnership with the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center, the program provides on-site clinical and case management services, daily meal service, and community-building activities to all residents. This building is part of the City and County of San Francisco’s Direct Access to Housing (DAH) program, and is named in honor of Eric Quezada, Dolores Street’s former Executive Director who passed away from cancer in 2011.
The Mission SRO Collaborative (MSROC), a partnership with Causa Justa::Just Cause, the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center, and the Women’s Community Clinic, organizes with SRO (Single Room Occupancy) hotel tenants throughout the Mission. The purpose of the program is to protect SRO housing stock, improve living conditions, and fight for housing justice.
The Community Planning and Development program engages in advocacy and organizing to support land uses that minimize displacement and facilitate the development of affordable housing in the Mission District. The goal of the program is to maintain an economically and culturally diverse neighborhood that continues to be accessible to low-income and immigrant communities. The program also works to expand low-income housing opportunities through acquisition and rehabilitation of existing sites, or by partnering with other organizations to create new housing opportunities.