FAQ
How do families come to Raphael House?
How many residents can stay at Raphael House at a time?
How long can a family stay at Raphael House?
Do you ever have to ask a family to leave?
Do families stay connected with Raphael House after they find stable housing?
What is the composition of the families that Raphael House serves?
How old are the children Raphael House serves?
How did your families become homeless?
- How do families come to Raphael House?
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Our families come to Raphael House from a variety of sources including a San Francisco run agency called Connecting Point, an agency designed to assist families who are experiencing homelessness. Connecting Point works with other agencies and families to determine what services will best assist them as they move toward stable lives. Families also contact Raphael House directly, to arrange informational interviews.
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We have 20 bedrooms which are configured to meet the needs of each family based upon family composition, age, and culture. When a family arrives in “our home” our staff has prepared a room complete with flowers, fresh linens and a card greeting them.
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Raphael House aims to meet the individual needs of each family through tailored case planning and advocacy. In turn, the length of stay for each family is different depending upon their long term goals. Case workers will work directly with the families to address a spectrum of issues necessary to achieve stable housing. During 2012 the average stay was 144 days.
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Families work directly with our Residential Case Managers to identify all reasonable housing options including transitional, market rate and below market rate housing based upon their specific needs and the needs of their children.
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Yes. If a family (usually the parents) does not follow the guidelines they agreed to when they entered Raphael House, they are counseled and – if they continue to disregard the rules – are asked to leave the shelter.
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Yes, in the event a family is experiencing ongoing difficulty and needs to return to our home, we are able to allow them to return on a case by case basis.
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Yes, as part of our AfterCare services we aim to maintain lifelong connections with all of our former residents through multiple avenues.
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89% of our families are headed by single mothers.
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Over half of our residents are children, and 70% of those children are under five years old.
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The most frequent barrier to families experiencing homelessness in San Francisco is lack of move-in funds. Additionally our families have often experienced domestic violence, dangerous living situations or job loss.
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Raphael House relies solely on private sources to meet its annual budget. Support is received from individuals, foundations, corporations, businesses, civic groups and churches.