Shelter First, Inc.

Causes: Homeless & Housing, Homeless Shelters, Housing & Shelter, Housing Development, Construction & Management, Temporary Housing

Mission: Shelter First was founded in 1997 in South Central Los Angeles in response to a Los Angeles City Task Force Project to eliminate crime and prostitution in the many "hourly-rate" motels in the South Central Area. The homeless are concentrated in the inner-city and the majority sleep in cars and on the street. Few shelters are clean, safe and free of drugs, theft and violence, and many have limited toilet or bath facilities. SFI converted four of these "hourly rate" motels and one skid row hotel into useful homeless shelters with the aim of aiding in neighborhood revitalization and taking a major stap to eliminate crime and prostitution. SFI's mission is to provide shelter for the homeless in Los Angeles' inner city and downtown areas. Our objective is to return our residents into the mainstream of society as self sufficient human beings capable of working, living in permanent accommodations, and raising their families without support from welfare. We have designed our program to address the needs of the homeless and to rehabilitate them so they can enter society as viable human beings. As homeless individuals they have been powerless to change a never-ending cycle. Children see life on the streets as the norm, and since they don't have other role models, they continue to live on the streets as adults. Once people live at our shelter they are exposed to another way of living - clean, furnished living accommodations, requirements for children to attend school every day and come home immediately after school; rules about noise, drugs, alcohol, curfews, crime, fighting and the care of facility, and a facility manager who, coming from a similar environment, is a real role model. Additionally, SFI networks with many agencies to provide and receive referrals. In addition to housing we provide an on-site learning center, free clothing and limited case-management. We collaborate with other agencies to provide mental and medical healthcare, schooling, job training and placement, and permanent housing referrals. Our program encourages our residents to take responsibiltiy for bettering their lives: we believe that by teaching the children and their parents that there is hope and how to deal with their problems, that it is possible to change the never-ending cycle of poverty and homelessness that the welfare cycle perpetuates.