The CW House is a supportive housing community providing support to formerly homeless individuals and families helping them maintain their housing while creating a safe environment for them to address the challenges in their lives. The CW House has 52 units composed of studios; one, two and three bedroom apartments of permeate housing.
Rev. Cecil William’s vision for the CW House was to create a quality living environment for the most disenfranchised population in our community. “A Place to Call Home”, Cecil would say. He believed that if you made people feel as if they were worth investing in, that the residents would take pride in their living environment and help take care of it. Rev. William’s vision of inclusiveness is reflective in the resident population living at the CW House.
CW House Resident Population
At the CW House, our resident community is composed of those who are dual and sometimes triple diagnosed living with some form of mental illness and substance abuse. One third or more of the population is living with a diagnosis of HIV or AIDS, and one third of the population is low-income (30 % AMI) families with children. Many of the children have grown up at the CW House and are now teenagers. Services at the CW House are critical because unfortunately, Tenderloin is not a safe playground for our children including the teens.
Residents pay 30% of their income in order to live at CW House. The balance of the necessary operating funding comes from a variety of public sources, including project based section 8 vouchers, HOPWA and Shelter Plus Care Funding. San Francisco Human Services Agency (HSA) provides funding of support services. Evans Property Management Inc. (EPMI) provides property Management
Supportive Housing Service Delivery
At the CW House, we are committed to working with our residents promoting methods of reducing the physical, social, emotional, and economic harms associated with drug and alcohol use and other harmful behaviors on individuals, their family and community. Our reduction methods and treatment goals are free of judgment or blame, and directly involve the residents in setting their own goals. CW House residents are responsive to culturally competent, non-judgmental services, delivered in a manner that demonstrates respect for individual dignity, personal strength, and self-determination.
At the CW House, we realize that people change in incremental ways and must be offered a range of treatment outcomes in a continuum of care from reducing unsafe practices to abstaining from dangerous behavior. Our service design is based on patience with clear boundaries, as we give residents the space to work on their addictions, while holding them accountable for their behavior. Because they value their housing and the community that they are a part of they are able to work on their addition, but understand the behavioral boundaries that they must live within.
On-site Services include the following:
- Housing retention and assistance
- Community building and community ownership activities
- Provision of comprehensive assessment of clinical, social, psychological, medical and practical support
- Provide family/women services including conflict intervention and resolution, family reunification assistance, women’s and parenting groups
- Financial management and literacy
- Family reunification and preservation
- Employment Assessment and Assistance
- Computer Access
- Drug and Alcohol Services and Referrals and Recovery Groups
- On-site Nurse Practitioner and referral to Glide Clinic
- Daily Coffee Shop with Pastries
- Free Farmer’s Market and Food Runners twice a week
- Youth Activities and Outings
- Youth Homework Assistance, Tutoring and Mentoring
- Youth Advocacy (Education, Enrichment and Mental Health
- Linkage to financial resources and benefits
- Linkages to Glide Foundation Services including the Meals Program and Glide Health Services
Community Building
The CW House has a very active Tenants Association that meets monthly to address issues related to the quality of living in the building and planning activities and outings for the entire CW House community. The support services staff works very closely with the tenants association empowering them to take a leadership role in the operation of the building. The CW House has floor captains for each floor that have been trained in CPR, and on emergency response. The resident leadership is given an annual operating budget to host activities and seasonal events for the community.
Our Success
Chief among CW House achievements is our understanding that integrated, interdisciplinary care is essential to address the multiple, complex unmet needs, and problems faced by homeless and seriously mentally ill people. Navigating fragmented systems of care is often impossible for homeless individuals, particularly for those who suffer physical, emotional, substance abuse or mental health difficulties. (NAEH Conference, July 2005) CW House has built its reputation on providing integrated, coordinated services for difficult-to-manage populations and is secure in its commitment to continuing those provisions of service to a wider target population.
Our success at the CW House is that we have built a safe community where people want to change. The CW House is designed to allow its residents to grow mentally and spiritually. We have built a community where the residents of the community take care of the building and hold themselves and their neighbors accountable for that care. We have created a nurturing environment for the children where they know that we value education and their success. The CW House is a place called HOME.
Waiting List
- Shelter Plus Care Referrals – Please contact Department of Human, Homeless Services
- HOPWA – Please contact Department of Public Health, Homeless Services
- Internal Section 8 waiting list - Closed