Dolores Street to lead Mission SRO Collaborative

Dolores Street was recently awarded a contract from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Housing and Urban Health section, as the lead/fiscal agent for the Mission SRO Collaborative program.

In this program, we will work in partnership with St. Peter’s Housing Committee and the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center to provide outreach, education, social services, community building and community organizing activities for residents of SRO (Single Room Occupancy) residential hotels throughout the Mission District.

There are approximately 50 such hotels in the neighborhood, with a total of approximately 2,000 residents.

The focus of our work in this collaborative will be Fire Prevention and Emergency Preparedness, Tenant Rights education, housing referrals, improving conditions in the hotels through code enforcement, and engaging tenants to participate in city and community forums on issues that affect their lives.

For this program Dolores Street staff will draw on our many years of experience providing shelter and housing for homeless adults, many of whom also cycle in and out of the SRO’s.  We are looking forward to expanding our work with the community of SRO residents and other organizations working on issues affecting SROs throughout the neighborhood and throughout the City.

Improving “quality of life” - Mejorando la “calidad de vida”

Have you ever gotten in the shower and realized you didn't have soap or shampoo? Have you ever wanted to brush your teeth after a meal and realized you had no toothbrush or toothpaste? These items add a great deal of comfort to our daily lives and help us maintain our health and hygiene. However, it isn't hard to realize that if one's income is limited, these basic supplies may be out of reach.

¿Alguna vez han comenzado a bañarse y de pronto no encontraron jabón o champú? ¿Alguna vez se han querido cepillar los dientes, y no tenían cepillo o pasta dental? Estas cosas nos traen mucha comodidad, y también nos ayudan a mantener la higiene y salud. Pero, no es difícil ver que cuando falta el dinero, estas cosas pueden estar fuera del alcance.

Richard M. Cohen Residence receives special holiday grant from Academy of Friends

The Cohen Residence staff and residents were excited to learn recently that we had received a grant from Academy of Friends (AOF) for some special activities, gifts, and celebrations this holiday season.  Academy of Friends is a San Francisco-based nonprofit that has been raising money for HIV/AIDS service organizations around the Bay Area for over two decades through its popular Oscar-night gala.  This year, Dolores Street’s Cohen Residence was one of 11 organizations awarded holiday grants, which were presented at a reception and awards ceremony on Monday, December 11^th.  The majority of the grant will be used to take all residents out for a night on the town—dinner and the theater. Residents are still deciding between Beach Blanket Babylon and Teatro Zinzani, but whichever they chose, it is sure to be a festive occasion.  In addition to the night out, the grant will also be used to supplement our annual budget for gifts for each resident, as well as for our annual Holiday Party and Christmas Dinner.  Dolores Street, and especially Cohen Residence, is grateful to AOF for their generous contribution.

Sometimes working in the main office and a step or two removed from our clients I forget the reason why we’re all here in the first place.  Last night, a simple act of understanding and kindness reminded me. 

Ricardo Beltran, our shelter Operations Manager, and I were visiting each site to draw up emergency evacuation plans in the case of fire or earthquake.  We were just finishing marking up the emergency exits at the Santa Ana shelter when a man and a well dressed older woman walked up to us dragging a suitcase behind them.  It seemed he’d found her crying on the street lost and with no place to go.  He was familiar with the small shelter we run at St. Peter’s Church and brought her to us.  Although our shelter is a men’s only facility, Ricardo and the shelter monitor on duty were more than ready to help... and as I later found out more then used to dealing with this exact situation.

Over the past few weeks we have reported that our Posada to Casa Project was funded through the Board of Supervisor’s add back budget process. We are currently involved in intense negotiations on securing those resources as well as actively pursuing sites for our permanent housing and our extended shelter stay. While we are confident that we will secure both the funding and future sites we may need to continue advocating and ask for community support. Stay tuned as we move forward with our Posada to Casa campaign.

This week we participated in a large community meeting held by the Mission Anti-displacement Coalition to review the People’s Plan for Housing, Jobs and Community. The plan has been in the making for the past five years and includes sections on preserving and enhancing housing opportunities for working class families, immigrants, homeless people, day labors and domestic workers who live in the Mission District.

Over 120 members of the community were present at the Mission Presbyterian Church on 23^rd and Capp St, this past Thursday. Members of DSCS staff and former shelter guests participated in the event, expressing support and testimony to the needs of our constituents. The plan will be forwarded to the city’s Planning Department as part of the re-zoning and planning efforts underway in the Mission and Eastern Neighborhoods. For more information on MAC and the People’s Plan call 415-431-4210.

The Board of Directors at its August meeting endorsed Prop 1C:  The Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006.  The proposition will provide a 2.85 Billion Dollar General Obligation Bond, including 50 million dollars for the Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP) which provides support for emergency shelters for those most in need.  The Proposition also provides badly needed resources for rental assistance, homeownership programs, farm workers housing, and affordable housing innovation. 

On September 1, Dolores Housing Program (DHP) moves its shelter kitchen into a new home at the Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist at 15^th and Julian.  St. John’s congregation, led by the Rev. John Kirkley, have opened their doors to us following the closure of our former location at Golden Gate Lutheran Church.  St. John’s has a special commitment to their North Mission neighborhood and to the work of non-profits so housing an agency that in turn serves the neighborhood’s working homeless is a natural fit.

DHP’s kitchen serves dinner to 100 shelter guests 365 days a year, so finding a new home base has been an urgent mission for the organization.  Although lauded by San Francisco city officials for our quality we’re always in need of help to maintain our high standards.  Donations of food or cash can be made to help us get the new kitchen established.