Snapshot: Moving On Initiative Early Success
Tipping Point’s early involvement in the Moving On Initiative helped bring together the right partners in the right way. Together with those partners, we’ve turned a long-discussed idea into a reality. The program is a collaboration between the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH), who funds and manages the program; the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA), who helps secure vouchers to pay for apartments; and Brilliant Corners, a nonprofit who finds the units and works with landlords. The program would not be possible without two critical changes made to the system over the last year. Thanks to a rent study done by SFHA and the Mayor’s Office of Housing in 2017, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development approved an increase in the value of a voucher by 35%. For example, a voucher for a studio apartment used to be worth $1,395—today, it is worth $2,014, making the value of the voucher high enough to be competitive in San Francisco’s private real estate market. In addition, Tipping Point, HSH, and SFHA helped create a policy that gives 350 vouchers annually to people who are ready to transition out of supportive housing and into their own homes.
To date, Tipping Point has invested $2.3 million in Brilliant Corners to help them start and scale their work in the City. This investment is leveraging more than $3.4 million of annual government subsidies to house San Franciscans, and we look forward to continuing the momentum in the months ahead.
