Community Development Public Service Programs

Through the Community Development Public Service Programs, MOHCD funds a wide range of social services, with two primary objectives: 1) Families and individuals are resilient and economically self-sufficient, and 2) Families and individuals are stably housed.  These objectives are met through specific funding strategies developed in our ten program areas, as described below. The dashboard report below shows MOHCD’s efforts toward accomplishing those two objectives across each program area. Data reflects services funded for Fiscal Years 2015-2019 as of June 30, 2019.

Instructions for Using the Dashboard

Filter reports by selecting data in each visualization. Hovering over data elements will display additional data. The data filter at the bottom of the page can be used filter the data by various categories. To select more than one data filter at a time, use the ‘Ctrl’ key.  The dashboard includes two reports. Use the arrow keys at the bottom of the dashboard to scroll through the two community development public services reports.

Source: Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development. (2020). Community Development Public Service Programs. Retrieved from https://data.sfgov.org/Economy-and-Community/Community-Development-Publi...

Public Service Program Areas

Sustainable Homeownership

Services include counseling and education to prospective first-time homebuyers, identifying suitable homeownership opportunities, identifying barriers to eligibility, providing credit counseling and coaching, budgeting, savings, and local program application assistance. These services primarily target individuals in disadvantaged communities, such as underrepresented members in communities of color, monolingual non-English speakers, persons with disabilities, seniors, LGBTQ individuals, transitional-age youth, and the homeless.

Our grantees are also working closely with MOHCD to provide legal services and mortgage counseling and education to homeowners to ensure their rights are being protected under the State of California Homeowner Bill of Rights (HOBR) and other consumer protection laws and that they understand their options to preserve homeownership. Services include loan modification negotiation, predatory lending awareness workshops, representation of clients with clear mortgage fraud HOBR violations, and technical assistance to San Francisco HUD-approved housing counseling agencies.

Access to Housing

Grantees provide information regarding local affordable housing programs and other rental opportunities, assistance overcoming barriers to eligibility, referrals to access mainstream benefits and services, financial education and coaching, assistance completing and filing affordable housing program applications, and housing stability case management to assist residents when issues arise that might destabilize their housing. These services target disadvantaged communities, including communities of color, monolingual non-English speakers, persons with disabilities, seniors, LGBTQ, transitional age youth, and homeless individuals and families.

Our grantees are also working closely with MOHCD to ensure that both residents and service providers are trained in the new DAHLIA housing portal to learn about and apply for affordable housing opportunities.

Eviction Prevention

These services include tenant counseling and education, legal representation, rental assistance, move-in assistance to displaced/homeless clients, case management, and referral to other legal, counseling or social services; assisting with recertification, rent calculation and eligibility issues for tenants of subsidized/public housing.

Desired outcomes include: avoiding eviction; rapidly re-housing homeless or displaced residents, and resolving landlord tenant conflicts, habitability or accessibility issues, and housing discrimination issues.

Supportive Housing for PLWHA

This funding supports persons with HIV/AIDS as follows: 1) 24-hour skilled nursing care, including hospice services, 2) permanent, deep rent subsidies and advocacy services for low-income households, and 3) partial rent subsidies and job training/placement.

In addition to the funds included in this table, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) funds also provide capital funding for the renovation and upkeep of facilities serving PLWHA, and the creation of permanent supportive housing for HOPWA-eligible clients.

Supportive services include case management, housing placement, mental health, drug and alcohol abuse treatment, personal assistance, food, and assistance in gaining access to other benefits.

Homeless Services

Through this program area we support the operations of homeless shelters, along with essential services and case management. Essential services include mental health services, job training, and assistance accessing mainstream benefits and services. Case management includes an individual service plan with specific goals.

The long term goal of these services is to successfully transition clients to more stable, and eventually permanent housing.

Service Connection

The support agencies that serve as intermediaries to a network of social services through intensive linkages. Service Connection is designed to connect people with additional support, address the whole range of a person’s or family’s needs and help people build their capacity to improve their lives and move toward self-sufficiency.

Service Connection involves a Case Management framework and includes intake and assessment, individual services planning and follow up, enhanced referral and/or placement to services, along with follow up and developing next steps.

Foundational Competencies

Foundational competencies are those which provide the foundation for success in school and the workplace, and include personal effectiveness (also known as “soft skills”), academic skills (including achievement of high school diploma, GED, and/or enrollment in post-secondary programs) and job readiness (including removing barriers and providing skills which make an individual ready and eligible to enroll in a city-funded sector academy, or for placement in unsubsidized employment).

Legal Services

Legal services grantees provide services that address specific barriers to economic self-sufficiency, through professional legal services (full representation, counseling, and processing of documents or applications), case management and employment rights education. These services may address barriers and issues including employment rights, immigration status, domestic violence and personal safety, benefits advocacy, consumer rights and legal protections, and issues of discrimination.

Financial Education

Grantees provide individualized financial education counseling, basic banking services, predatory lending alternatives, and/or financial coaching services, to assist individuals to achieve self-sufficiency and improved financial security.

Core activities include: 

  • Full client intake, needs assessment and triage for financial crises
  • Creation of a budget, debt reduction, credit improvement and savings plan
  • Benefits screening for public benefits
  • Screening for appropriate financial products (checking and savings, credit building products, affordable loans)
  • Scheduling follow-up appointments; ongoing coaching services

Housing Place-Based Services

HOPE SF and RAD are initiatives to radically transform public housing in San Francisco. These services primarily support residents at the 34 public housing sites involved in these transitions. Community building activities focus on building resident capacity to improve neighborhood conditions and service provider capacity to improve resident outcomes. Service connection activities strengthen individuals and families residing within targeted housing sites, with a focus on housing stability; economic mobility and job readiness, education, health outcomes, and safety.