HOLIDAY FUND: Capacity to double at Shelter Network's family facility HOLIDAY FUND: Capacity to double at Shelter Network's family facility (December 03, 2003)

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

The front counter is a skeleton of unfinished wood, and the stairs are bare concrete. But through the sawdust, Michele Jackson sees bunk beds and families with new roofs over their heads.

"You just have to imagine," says the executive director of Shelter Network, her blue hard hat matching the neatly tied scarf at her neck.

When this $6.1 million San Mateo work-in-progress is complete, which officials anticipate will happen in May 2004, it will be two three-story buildings making up a new shelter for homeless parents and children.

Called First Step for Families, the shelter is expected to house 39 families. It takes the place of the old shelter on this site, an aging house and a former DMV building that could hold 18 before being demolished earlier this year, Ms. Jackson says.

"The number one reason for rebuilding is that we have 40 to 50 families every night we can't serve; we have no space," she says. "We'll be able to more than double our capacity."

Holiday Fund donations will help the nonprofit Shelter Network cover general operating costs for the housing and social services it provides at First Step for Families and in other San Mateo County locations, including Haven Family House in Menlo Park and the Maple Street Shelter in Redwood City. Each year, the organization serves about 2,000 people, Ms. Jackson says.

A primary goal is to make people self-sufficient as quickly as possible, she says, walking through the San Mateo construction site as a train passes nearby. Besides showing where studio and one-bedroom units (with soundproofed windows) will be, she also points out a future area for Internet computers, a useful tool for job hunting.

Other transitional services will also be offered on-site, including workshops on budgeting and parenting, and one-on-one sessions with clients to create plans for bouncing back from homelessness, Ms. Jackson says.

The site will also include a licensed child care center operated by Head Start.

With the economy still stagnant, homelessness remains a worry, Ms. Jackson says. Rents are lower, but so are incomes, meaning it's often still a challenge to find an affordable place to live.

"More than half of the folks we see are working," she says.
INFORMATION

For more information, call 685-5880; visit www.shelternetwork.org; or write Shelter Network, 1450 Chapin Ave., 2nd Floor, Burlingame, CA 94010.

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