Preventing homelessness is one step closer to ending it – so our goal is to keep people housed in the first place.
Once the cycle of homelessness starts, it can be extremely challenging to return to stable housing. Eviction records and the financial losses can follow families for years or decades, preventing stability. So Keep People Housed steps in to solve a housing crisis that could lead to homelessness. KPH provides emergency financial assistance, legal representation, and supportive services to prevent homelessness before it starts.
The History
In 2018, BACS and two other organizations teamed up to pilot the Keep Oakland Housed program. Expanding on the work of the Keep Oakland Housed pilot program, in 2020 BACS expanded to provide rental relief to residents of Emeryville and Hayward impacted by COVID-19. To date, BACS and the extended partners in the Keep Oakland Housed collaborative have distributed over $15 million in assistance to Oaklanders at risk of losing their housing.
Keep Oakland Housed started with a big vision (prevent homelessness) and tangible goals (an average of 1,700+ households per year while we learned what worked). After almost five years, we know what works.
Our dream has stayed the same, but the goal has gotten bigger. Looking forward, Keep Oakland Housed will continue to expand. We call this growing movement Keep People Housed, and we are ready to meet the housing and eviction crisis with homelessness prevention in any community that asks for our help. BACS builds coalitions to Keep People Housed, working with partner providers to reach as many people as possible.
