The Buena Vista Horace Mann Stayover program was launched on November 15, 2018, and was fully operational on January 15, 2019. This program is for families in San Francisco that don’t have a home.
Funded by San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and operated by the nonprofit Dolores Street Community Services, Buena Vista Horace Mann’s school gym is located on Valencia Street between 23rd and 24th Streets.
The gym turns into a family shelter at night and provides warm food in the evening and fresh food in the morning. On weekdays, the shelter operates from 7 pm-7 am and 5 am-10 pm on weekends.
Compared to other shelters, there are no limits on the number of nights that families can stay.
The gym is separated with room dividers, and the number of beds given depends on how big the family is. The capacity is 60 families. Families have the option of sleeping on mats or cots, they have three showers on site and limited times to shower per family.
The only requirement to qualify for this program is having one child in the SFUSD school system.
We wanted to feature some of the people participating in this program and their stories.
Analy Padilla’s Story:
Analy Padilla immigrated to the United States 20 years ago from Honduras in search of a better life. She has 3 kids and 2 nephews that she has adopted. Ms.Padilla and her family had a home in Daly City, California, but once her husband lost his job, Ms.Padilla became the only source of income. As a result, they started to dip into their savings to afford rent and groceries.
Ms. Padilla sells food through facebook, but selling food isn’t very easy. Since prices in grocery stores have come up, she has to risk the little amount of money she has to get materials to make the food she sells.
After not being able to pay rent in Daly City, the only solution she found was to live in her car and find friends who would lend her and her family a bathroom. Analy had already known about BVHM SOP, through friends that have gone through the program. Unfortunately, around that time, there was no space for her and her kids.
After 10 days of living in her car, she finally got a call from BVHM telling her that there was a space available for her and her family.
She described how, in comparison to other shelters, BVHM SOP gives fresh food and a place to shower, they don’t kick you out after a certain time as well.
“No fue tan facil pero pues para escuchar las experiencias de otros albergues, creo que este (BVHM SOP) es el mejor albergue de la ciudad”
After applying for a subsidy, she was able to find an apartment in the Tenderloin. Even though it’s not the neighborhood she would love to live in, she is still grateful for the help that BVHM SOP has given her to be able to find a roof for her and her family to sleep under.
Stay tuned for more stories inside the shelter.
