Episode 104: Department of Homelessness & Supportive Housing for the City & County of San Francisco

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“I volunteer at a safe sober space. I serve on the board of a retreat for healing that happens once a year. I serve on the Board of StartOut which helps LGBTQ + entrepreneurs gain access to mentorship and resources and fundraising to increase our representation as founders of companies. I will always do this work, because these are the same kind of organizations that empowered me to have the life I lead today.” Jugal Patel

As we enter 2023 and the third year of the covid-19 pandemic we wanted to hear from one of our government departments about the housing and wrap around support services they are providing to our unhoused neighbors. In this episode we feature the voices of the executive director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing for the City and County of San Francisco, Shireen McSpadden, the Manager of Housing Subsidy Programs at the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, Alan Guttirez along with a participant in the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing Flex Housing Pool program Jugal Patel as well as the Executive Director of Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco, Beth Stokes.

Shireen McSpadden

Shireen McSpadden is the Executive Director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing for the City and County of San Francisco. She was appointed by Mayor London N. Breed in April of 2021, after a nationwide search.

Her experience and connection to communities will help the Department meet its strategic goals of serving our most vulnerable residents, including the critical work of delivering the promise of the Mayor’s Homelessness Recovery Plan. Shireen has over 30 years’ experience providing services to people with disabilities and seniors, in both the nonprofit and public sectors. In 2020, she was recognized for her anti-ageism work by Time Magazine, named as one of 16 people and groups fighting for a more equitable America. She has served on several boards and committees including the Glide Foundation, the San Francisco Palliative Care Work Group, the California Association of Area Agencies on Aging and USAging.

As a member of Governor Newsom’s Master Plan for Aging Stakeholder Committee, Shireen helped shape California’s Master Plan for Aging. Shireen was appointed by Secretary Mark Ghaly to California’s Disability and Aging Community Advisory Committee. She also currently serves as a board member for Openhouse, which builds community by centering the voices of LGBTQ+ older adults. She is a founding board member for Capstone Community Solutions, which seek to help build communities through empowerment and indigenous leadership. She recently joined the Leadership Council of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Jugal Patel

Jugal Patel is a 35-year-old Bay Area native and tech entrepreneur who lives in San Francisco. Jugal has previously experienced homelessness and spent six years cycling in and out of the streets, rehabilitation programs, shelters, and jail. With the support of City programs, Jugal was able to begin his journey in recovery and in 2019 acquired long term, stable housing with the help of Episcopal Community Services (ECS). Since entering into the ECS program Jugal has been able to finish his BS in Finance from San Francisco State University and found his own tech company. Outside of his career, he volunteers with several non-profits serving populations struggling with homelessness, mental health, and addiction issues, as a way of giving back what was so freely given to him.

Beth Stokes

Beth Stokes is the Executive Director of Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco, one of the City's largest, most comprehensive providers of supportive housing and services. She started her career in housing and homeless services over twenty years ago at the Coalition on Homelessness. Beth's prior experience includes serving as the Western Region Managing Director for the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), Director of Programs for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, and Executive Director of Hamilton Families. Beth has also held a number of philanthropic and civic posts including serving as an Oakland Homeless Commissioner since her appointment by Mayor Schaaf in 2019, as a Board member for Amity Foundation, and previous roles on the Board of Directors for Homerise and the SoMA Community Benefit District. She received her MSW in Social Welfare, Administration and Planning from San Francisco State University.

Beth values a balanced approach to mental and physical wellbeing and in her free time enjoys taking advantage of the beauty of living in the bay area, exploring and cycling through local landscapes and seascapes with her partner and friends.

Beth values a balanced approach to mental and physical wellbeing and in her free time enjoys taking advantage of the beauty of living in the bay area, exploring and cycling through local landscapes and seascapes with her partner and friends.

Alan Guttirez

Alan Guttirez (He/Him) is the Manager of Housing Subsidy Programs at the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH). Over the last 5 years—and in partnership with people with lived experience, local nonprofit partners, and colleagues at HSH—Alan has led expansions to the portfolio of scattered site housing programs, increased the oversight and compliance among the Continuum of Care programs funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and helped to implement the inaugural Family Coordinated Entry System. Prior to his tenure at HSH, Alan worked at nonprofits in San Francisco with Justice-based missions and services menus that spanned HIV prevention and care, leadership development, suicide prevention, and case management services for unhoused LGBTQ youth, advocacy for survivors of domestic violence, and occupational health services for people who work in the sex trades. Alan arrives to this work after being galvanized by his experience working in the sex trades, as a survivor of domestic violence, and through the love, mentorship, and wisdom of his family and countless Black, Latino/a/x, Asian American, and South Asian trans and nonbinary visionaries. Today, Alan is guided by his family and mentor’s ideas and visions as he works to reduce houselessness by scaling new and existing housing projects through a Racial and Housing Justice framework.  

Department of Homelessness & Supportive Housing for the City and County of San Francisco

The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) launched on July 1, 2016. The department combines key homeless-serving programs and contracts from the Department of Public Health (DPH), the Human Services Agency (HSA), the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD), and the Department of Children Youth and Their Families (DCYF). This consolidated department has a singular focus on preventing and ending homelessness for people in San Francisco.

Our Mission:

The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing strives to make homelessness in San Francisco rare, brief, and one-time, through the provision of coordinated, compassionate, and high‐quality services. 

Housing Program Types:

Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH):

PSH offers tenants long-term affordable housing with a range of supportive services, including case management and housing retention assistance. Tenants pay up to 30% of their income in rent. 

·Site-Based Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH): Tenants live in units in a building that the City or a non-profit partner owns or master leases. Support services are located on site. Some buildings include additional services like nursing, education and job training, youth and child programming, and food security support.

·Scattered-Site Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH): Tenants use subsidies to live in private-market units and receive support in their home from mobile service providers.

·Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool (FHSP): Tenants use subsidies to live in units on the private rental market that the City has identified through partnerships with landlords and non-profit partners.

·Voucher Programs: Tenants receive ongoing subsidies to lease units of their choice on the private market. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development covers a portion of the voucher holder’s rent based on their income. These programs include:

·Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs)

·Mainstream vouchers

·Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers

Rapid Rehousing:

Rapid Rehousing is a time-limited subsidy that gradually decreases as the tenant stabilizes and finds housing outside of the Homelessness Response System. Tenants live in private-market units and access supportive services, including case management and housing retention assistance.

You can find out more about HSH’s Housing services Here

Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco

Our Mission: Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco (ECS) helps homeless and very low-income people every day and every night obtain the housing, jobs, shelter, and essential services each person needs to prevent and end homelessness.

DIGNITY & RESPECT

ECS believes in people and their inherent ability to make choices, and recognizes the worth of each person: clients, employees, board members, community.

INTEGRITY

We act fairly, we work hard, we develop sound practices, and we are a good employer, service provider, and steward of resources.

COMPASSION

We see potential in each person and meet them where they are. We care about the people we employ and the people we serve.

The complex nature of homelessness calls for a multi-faceted solution. ECS serves more than 13,000 adults and children through a range of services, including the City’s Adult Coordinated Entry (ACE), supportive housing, employment and education programs, healthy aging, information and referral resources, reentry housing and support services, interim housing, and behavioral health services. You can find out more about ECS services Here:

Donation/Volunteer

+ Get engaged in supporting The Episcopal Community Services San Francisco Programs to help our unhoused neighbor. Your gift improves the quality of life for individuals and families experiencing or at-risk of homelessness in the Bay Area. Thank you for your generosity. Creating a donation of at least $15 per month provides essential meals for a food insecure family, job readiness training for a person seeking employment, or assistance for a senior navigating the service system

+ You can participate in The Episcopal Community Services San Francisco Programs. Due to COVID-19, we are not offering in-person volunteering at our sites, however, there are still many ways individuals and groups can help our community. If you have any questions, please contact Spandan Chakrabarti, Associate Director of Development Communications at schakrabarti@ecs-sf.org

Videos

To find out more about both the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing for the City and County of San Francisco and the Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco please check out these Videos:

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