Transition House

Family Homeless Shelter and Housing ProgramsTransition House offers shelter, housing and antipoverty services for homeless families with children that come from the greater Santa Barbara area. Our goal is to help families gain the skills and the income they need to return to rental housing and to sustain it. Our programs include:Three-Stage Family Housing Continuum with Support Services. We offer a three-stage housing and services program designed around the needs of each family. The first stage begins with a four to five-month stay at our 70-bed emergency shelter. At the shelter, families recover from crisis, establish realistic income and savings goals with the help of a case manager, find or improve employment income, and come up with a housing plan. Some families that need additional time and wish to participate in continued services may apply for our second stage transitional housing, either at the Firehousea six-month program serving up to six families at a time; or at Balay Ko on Anapamu, which offers up 24 months of housing and services for up to 10 families at a time. Eligible families with very high barriers to stability may apply to our third stage program, HOMES, where they can live for two years or more in one of 36 Transition House-owned permanent supportive housing units.Our overall goal is to move families from homelessness and poverty into permanent housing and financial stability. Homeless families are in crisis when they arrive at our emergency shelter. They want to alleviate their familys suffering and return to housing, but the idea of amassing a savings account, having a meaningful career, or seeing their children one day attend collegethese are things of which they have never dreamed. Thanks to extensive case management education around financial literacy and career development, and special programs for children, families can achieve lasting economic stability and a healthy home environment.In 2023, Transition House served 454 people in all our programs. Of those, the shelter served a total of 294 homeless individuals (84 families); 185 of them were children. Of families that moved out of the shelter in 2023, 75% moved to permanent housing. As a result of participating in our program, 92% of adults became employed or maintained their employment and increased their income; and families saved an average of $3,552 towards housing costs. 89% of the families we served came from the greater Santa Barbara city area.

Homelessness Prevention Program: Anti-Poverty Classes. Parents in our programs attend onsite anti-poverty classes, which are also available to people in the community who are at risk of losing their housing. Classes cover topics such as English as a Second Language, employment soft skills, computer skills, and positive parenting. Our computer lab works to address digital inequities families in poverty often experience. The lab provides instruction in both the Microsoft Office and Google suites of programs. Staff also offer one-on-one assistance accessing healthcare, enrolling children for school, searching for employment and housing, and more.

Homeless Childrens Programs. Families in our programs take advantage of our childrens programs. Infants can receive free or subsidized daycare through the onsite licensed Infant Care Center operated by Storyteller. School children participate in evening enrichment programsincluding a literacy program and tutoring help. We offer a teen program focusing on resiliency and future career goals. Our childrens programs aim to break the cycle of generational poverty for children who are at highest risk of becoming homeless as adults.