OUR HISTORY
SOS volunteer, Daniel Barth, leads a community meeting at the Rydin Road encampment prior to the city’s resolution efforts.
In 2018, a group of advocates in the greater Bay Area coined the name Safe Organized Spaces (SOS). They envisioned a unique model: self-governed transitional and permanent housing villages.
SOS Richmond started with practical actions like distributing food and providing basic support to encampments, along with building community ties. By December 2019, SOS launched the Streets Team, offering jobs to unhoused individuals, primarily to address encampment cleanups. This effort has resulted in an average of 31 tons of trash being removed from streets and camps each month.
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, SOS continued its operations, filling a crucial gap and keeping people employed. Many unhoused individuals felt abandoned by other agencies, but SOS's grassroots approach maintained connections and provided essential care.
SOS shifted to a "community of care" approach, focusing on resources that promote safety, empowerment, and stability. They worked with individuals where they were, moving away from traditional relocation methods. This marked the start of a principle of cooperation between housed and unhoused neighbors.
To better serve encampment dwellers, SOS launched the Shower Power mobile shower program and provided mobile toilets, drinking water, access to urgent medical care, encampment relocation assistance, housing support, and laundry services. Their goal was to accompany unhoused neighbors as they moved people from tents to permanent homes.
In spring 2021, Richmond's Reimagining Public Safety initiative identified SOS as a lead organization on homelessness, expanding its reach. From 2021 and 2022, SOS played key roles in the resolution for two of Richmond’s most prominent encampments at Rydin Road and Castro Street. At each location, SOS was involved in the lives of these 170 encampment residents from the outset of these encampments. SOS hired 23 residents, with 12 of these staff obtaining permanent housing. When SOS staff entered housing, they sustained their housing.
SOS is entirely operated by field staff hired from the encampments they serve, aiming to build trust and maintain relationships. Since 2022, SOS has been gradually expanding services and forming partnerships with other service organizations to provide unique solutions for housing sustainability.
SOS staff open doors for people to connect to other services, such as harm reduction outreach which decreases overdose deaths and risk from encampment fires. Workforce clinics help bridge the gap between homelessness and employment. Now a 501(c)(3) organization, SOS serves as peer ambassadors, accompanying unhoused individuals along health, housing, income, and personal development pathways.
SOS Richmond started with practical actions like distributing food and providing basic support to encampments, along with building community ties. By December 2019, SOS launched the Streets Team, offering jobs to unhoused individuals, primarily to address encampment cleanups. This effort has resulted in an average of 31 tons of trash being removed from streets and camps each month.
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, SOS continued its operations, filling a crucial gap and keeping people employed. Many unhoused individuals felt abandoned by other agencies, but SOS's grassroots approach maintained connections and provided essential care.
SOS shifted to a "community of care" approach, focusing on resources that promote safety, empowerment, and stability. They worked with individuals where they were, moving away from traditional relocation methods. This marked the start of a principle of cooperation between housed and unhoused neighbors.
To better serve encampment dwellers, SOS launched the Shower Power mobile shower program and provided mobile toilets, drinking water, access to urgent medical care, encampment relocation assistance, housing support, and laundry services. Their goal was to accompany unhoused neighbors as they moved people from tents to permanent homes.
In spring 2021, Richmond's Reimagining Public Safety initiative identified SOS as a lead organization on homelessness, expanding its reach. From 2021 and 2022, SOS played key roles in the resolution for two of Richmond’s most prominent encampments at Rydin Road and Castro Street. At each location, SOS was involved in the lives of these 170 encampment residents from the outset of these encampments. SOS hired 23 residents, with 12 of these staff obtaining permanent housing. When SOS staff entered housing, they sustained their housing.
SOS is entirely operated by field staff hired from the encampments they serve, aiming to build trust and maintain relationships. Since 2022, SOS has been gradually expanding services and forming partnerships with other service organizations to provide unique solutions for housing sustainability.
SOS staff open doors for people to connect to other services, such as harm reduction outreach which decreases overdose deaths and risk from encampment fires. Workforce clinics help bridge the gap between homelessness and employment. Now a 501(c)(3) organization, SOS serves as peer ambassadors, accompanying unhoused individuals along health, housing, income, and personal development pathways.
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NEIGHBOR CARE LINE: 510.806.8650
Call the Neighborhood Care Line to reach a member of the SOS Richmond Outreach Team for help engaging collaboratively with our unhoused neighbors. Leave a message to express your concerns about a situation you observe or experience. To help an unhoused individual get services, call CORE - Coordinated Outreach Referral Engagement Program - for the mobile homeless outreach team at 211. |
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