For 36 years, HomeRise, formerly Community Housing Partnership, has helped thousands of San Franciscans move from homelessness into permanent homes. Our residents have always been at the center of that work, and they are at the center of the decision we are announcing today.
After careful deliberation, HomeRise’s Board of Directors has decided to lead an orderly resident-centered wind-down of the organization with residents’ housing and services remaining intact. The process may take up to 24 months.
We will work with the City and County of San Francisco, our investors, and our lenders to transfer our ownership role, property management, and supportive services in each building to better-resourced providers. This work is being coordinated with the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, Health and Human Services, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, along with each property’s investors, lenders, and regulators.
Residents will stay in their homes. Their leases and rental assistance continue. On-site staff remain in place. The support residents rely on continues without interruption. Over time, these properties will be owned and operated by organizations with the scale and depth of services to meet residents’ needs as those needs grow and change. As a resident’s building moves to a new operator, we will tell them first, communicate clearly and in their language, and give them time to prepare. Nothing about daily life changes today.
Why now, and why this path? HomeRise’s buildings represent hundreds of millions of dollars in public investment. They combine City loans, state and federal housing funds, operating subsidies, and the private capital of our tax-credit investors. The buildings also reflect San Franciscans’ commitment to housing our most vulnerable neighbors, a commitment that has lasted for decades.
Sustaining that commitment today requires providers with scale, diversified revenue, comprehensive supportive services, and balance-sheet strength. As a single-mission organization, HomeRise is not built to deliver all of that for the long term.
Our residents deserve partners equipped to meet all of their needs, and the public deserves stewards built to protect its investment for the next generation. Winding down HomeRise and placing these homes with providers built for that scale is how we make sure both happen.
HomeRise is grateful to our staff. Their front-line work and resident-centered efforts are the backbone of our organization. We will provide them with the grace and transparency they deserve as we go through this transition.
This process will unfold over the coming year, building by building. HomeRise will share information as it advances, including as the City confirms receiving operators for each property. Staff will hear from us first, every step of the way.
Boardmembers Don Falk and Neil Sims are leading a national search for a CEO to guide the wind-down. The search welcomes interested parties to submit their information to Info@HomeRise.org.
We are grateful to the residents who trust us with their homes, to the staff who show up for them every day, and to the City, funders, and partners who have built this work alongside us. We thank the Mayor and every City employee who has been a part of this effort through the years, and who will devote their time and energy to ensure our residents remain housed in the future. We also thank the citizens and residents of San Francisco whose longtime support and public funds provide the housing needed for the most vulnerable in our community. Our actions today honor that commitment and provide a path forward for stewardship of public funds.
Our commitment, as it has been since 1990, is that every San Franciscan in our buildings continues to have a safe, stable place to call home.
Don Falk
President, Board of Directors
Tim Daniels
Interim Chief Executive Officer