West Bay Housing Mission
To provide affordable community-based housing
for underserved populations with an emphasis
on people with developmental disabilities
West Bay Housing Corporation
West Bay Housing Corporation (WBHC) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit public benefit corporation whose mission is to provide affordable, community-based supportive housing for individuals with developmental disabilities and other people with special housing needs. Founded in 2004, WBHC has grown into a “full-service” housing agency providing housing development, property management, and housing-related services for people with developmental disabilities and others in need of supportive housing.
WBHC’s growing staff of 13 dedicated employees oversees an expanding portfolio of 18 owned and managed properties, a development pipeline of 9 additional properties, and a sizeable housing services caseload that will have secured community-based housing for over 200 individuals with disabilities by mid-2010. More information about each of our programs can be found below.
West Bay Housing Core Programs
Housing Development
WBHC develops affordable, community-based housing for people with developmental disabilities. Our development activity includes both new construction and acquisition, renovation, refinancing and preservation of existing properties. Our active development pipeline includes the 15-unit Octavia Court HUD Section 811 Supportive Housing project in San Francisco, preservation and remodeling of 12 units of licensed community care housing for people with autism in San Francisco and San Rafael, 5 four-bedroom licensed care homes in San Mateo County for people transitioning from developmental centers, and 3 four-bedroom homes for people with developmental disabilities transitioning out of San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital. Learn more
Property Management
WBHC provides Property Management services for 18 homes totaling 78 units of community-based housing for people with developmental disabilities in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin Counties. Another 8 homes and the 15-unit Octavia Court project will come on-line over the next year or so, bringing the total portfolio to 27 properties serving over 120 people. WBHC’s Property Management services include routine and emergency maintenance, accessibility and person-centered modifications, occupied renovations, and long-term asset management and refinancing. In addition to managing its owned properties, WBHC offers customized, affordable Property Management services to other owners/operators of housing and day programs for people with developmental disabilities and other supportive housing needs.
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Housing Services - GGRC
WBHC provides an array of Housing Services for people with developmental disabilities by referral through the Golden Gate Regional Center. Available services include Housing Options Identifier (intensive housing search case management), Move-In Services, Fiscal Agent Services (rent payment, etc.), and Housing Retention. All Housing Services are coordinated with the client and their case manager and integrated into the individual’s Individual Program Plan. This program enables clients to move from severely rent burdened, substandard, abusive or discriminatory, or otherwise inappropriate and unsustainable housing to affordable quality housing in a short time frame. .
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Housing Services – Laguna Honda Hospital
WBHC has partnered with the City and County of San Francisco’s Department of Public Health to secure over 100 units of scattered site supportive housing in San Francisco for people living at Laguna Honda Hospital and eligible for the program under the Chambers Settlement. WBHC identifies and leases appropriate units and provides additional services in close cooperation with the City’s Diversion and Community Integration Program. Learn more
Housing Advocacy
WBHC advocates with Housing Authorities and other public agencies and policy-making bodies on behalf of the housing needs of people with developmental disabilities in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties. Advocacy work includes Housing Elements, specific housing and planning documents, funding priorities, and access to Section 8 vouchers, public housing, and privately owned subsidized housing. Learn more
Letter From Executive Director, Bill Pickel
Welcome to West Bay Housing. If you, someone you love, or someone you serve lives with a developmental disability and needs housing or housing-related services, you’ve come to the right place.
West Bay Housing’s goal is to provide one-stop shopping for the housing needs of people with developmental disabilities in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties – the area served by the Golden Gate Regional Center. We build, acquire and renovate, refinance and preserve licensed community care homes. We develop, own, and manage multifamily supportive housing. We provide comprehensive property management services, including accessibility and related modifications. We offer individually tailored housing services, including housing search, move-in, tenant-landlord liaison, retention, and fiscal agent services. We work directly with individuals and their case managers, partner with service providers to better meet their clients’ housing needs, and implement programs on behalf of the Golden Gate Regional Center and other public agencies.
WBHC’s mission and programs are part of the continually evolving deinstitutionalization movement, a revolution in the way we house, care for, and think about people with disabilities. Housing is a critical piece, if not the centerpiece, of the movement to empower people with disabilities to live independently and achieve community integration. Our programs are designed to fulfill the ethical and legal imperatives of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Olmstead Decision – which reminds us that everyone wants to live in the “least-restrictive setting” – California’s Lanterman Act on behalf of people with developmental disabilities, and the Chambers Settlement mandating community-based housing for people living at Laguna Honda Hospital.
Beyond these specific laws and legal decisions, the world’s spiritual traditions and our heritage of humanistic thought and activism remind us of that each and every person is an individual who longs for, and deserves, the opportunity to live as independently as possible in the community of their choice.
We are grateful for the opportunity to participate in this important work. And, thanks to the hard work of our dedicated staff and to the able assistance of our many fine partners, the impact of our work is expanding dramatically – by the end of our 2009-10 Fiscal Year, we’ll be providing housing and housing-related services to over 200 people with disabilities. We look forward to helping the Bay Area do its part to fulfill the promise of the Obama Administration’s “Year of Community Living.”
Letter From
Executive Director
Welcome to West Bay Housing. If you, someone you love, or someone you serve lives with a developmental disability and needs housing or housing-related services, you’ve come to the right place.
West Bay Housing’s goal is to provide one-stop shopping for the housing needs of people with developmental disabilities in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties – the area served by the Golden Gate Regional Center ... Read More
