Saint Vincent de Paul – Holy Spirit conference, Sacramento

Transition to Permanent Housing Solutions (TPHS)

 Mission Statement

Our Transition to Permanent Housing Solutions program (TPHS) is a special project of our Conference that provides assistance to people who are in temporary financial distress and who are in danger of becoming homeless due to threatened evictions or who are homeless and need assistance obtaining homes. Nothing is more important to a healthy, sustainable community than housing for its people, and homelessness is a major problem in Sacramento. We work to prevent people from becoming homeless and to help people transition from homelessness to being housed. We believe TPHS is a unique program among small charitable organizations. All the work is done by our Conference members, who are volunteers, and the program has virtually no overhead costs.  Our Conference members also raise money for the program through fundraising activities.  At the time we started the program, we drafted a set of Objectives and Guidelines, which state, in part, “Assistance can be provided to clients in the City and County of Sacramento, not limited to clients in our conference and other service areas. Assistance must be for permanent housing, not temporary housing. An assessment will be made of the probability that a client will be able to maintain the housing after TPHS has provided assistance. . .”  TPHS does not condition help on anyone’s religious affiliation, ethnic or social background, gender, or political opinions. In the 5 years since TPHS started in December 2018, we have helped 447 people in 164 households.

Some People We Have Helped

A physically disabled woman in her 40s who for many years shared rent for a duplex with her mother.  When her mother died the client was unable to pay the rent with her Social Security Disability so the landlord said she had to leave.  She found an apartment but had no money for the initial costs, so TPHS expended $1,610 for the application fee, deposits and first month’s rent, none of which she could have paid for herself.

A mother of two girls, who had recently escaped an abusive relationship.  She was a hairdresser, but could not work temporarily because CPS said she needed to be with her children so she was not protected from eviction by the  COVID moratorium.  She was $2,250 in arrears on her apartment.  She was able to pay $1,000 herself and Salvation Army agreed to pay $200.  TPHS paid $1,050.

A woman and her grandson were homeless, but she found a house and had money for the rent because she had a job as an In Home Health Care Worker and also had income from Cal Fresh and AFDC.  She needed $1,100 for first month’s rent and $1,000 for the security deposit, which TPHS paid.

A 29-year-old illiterate, bipolar man whose sister contacted us through St. Vincent de Paul Helpline.  He had been homeless and living in his car for “a while”.  He had a part time job at a grocery store downtown and his sister had arranged an apartment for him at an apartment complex near his job.  He needed $756 for first month’s rent and $1,512 for security deposit, but was only able to pay $229 himself.  TPHS paid $2,039 to get him into the apartment.

A homeless client who we met in a local park, a working woman in her 30’s with a seven year old daughter who could not find landlords willing to accept her applications for housing because of an outstanding rental debt that showed on her credit report.  She could not afford to pay the entire amount of the rental debt and also pay first and last month’s rent and a security deposit.  We paid $655, the part of the outstanding debt she could not pay herself, so that the debt would be deleted from her credit report.  She was then able to submit applications to landlords, and was accepted for an apartment.

Donors