San Francisco's Homeless Youth Alliance Launches Campaign To Find A New Home
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – An organization that provides support for homeless youth in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury neighborhood is still looking for a new home, a year after being evicted from its building on Haight Street.
That building was the home for the Homeless Youth Alliance for 12 years. Homeless Youth Alliance Executive Director Mary Howe said they were evicted even after offering to pay triple the rent, and have struggled since. "We have applied to 34 places and zero have rented to us," said Howe.
San Francisco's Homeless Youth Alliance Launches Campaign To Find A New Home
They have still been setting up each night under a canopy outside of the old building, providing essentials like food and clothing, along with mental health and medical care.
But Howe said the services they provide for homeless youth would be greatly improved by having a brick-and-mortar space to call home.
"Just having a space to sit and be is so important – showers, running water, a bathroom," she said. "Those are the things that the kids lost that they still do not have access to a year later."
The Homeless Youth Alliance has launched a Crowdrise campaign called "Go Big Or Go Homeless," with a goal of raising $1 million in crowdfunding and $5 million total for the purchase of a new site. "Because really, the entire neighborhood benefits from having that center," said Howe.
The nonprofit reaches some 5,000 homeless youth in Haight Ashbury each year, providing them with therapy, counseling, case management and medical care.
Donations by check can be made out to Tides Center/Homeless Youth Alliance and mailed to:
P.O. Box 170427
San Francisco, CA 94117.
Donations can also be made online through HYA's Crowdrise campaign page.
