HomeFirst is a 501(c)3 that began in 1980 and is a leading provider of housing opportunities 
– emergency, interim, and permanent to our unhoused and housing-insecure neighbors in 
the San Francisco Bay Area of California.
 
Our vision is a community in which everyone has a home, delivering on our mission to end 
homelessness by providing a full spectrum of services to help people find a home, improve 
their lives, and stay housed. 
 
HomeFirst excels at working with vulnerable populations experiencing barriers to housing. 
HomeFirst leads the way in serving our community through low-barrier programming and 
services – meeting each person where they are and building a housing plan centered around 
the individual.
 
We view housing as a fundamental human right and understand that solving homelessness 
takes everyone working together. Today, our budget exceeds $55M, with locations serving 
Santa Clara and Sonoma Counties. As of the end of FY24, approximately 93% of our funding 
comes from government sources. 
 
Our communities recognize HomeFirst’s expertise in the field. At the request of funders and 
partners, HomeFirst leadership has presented at national conferences on subjects ranging 
from system design, equity informed programming, and data driven management. We are 
a provider of choice for innovative programming and have piloted a variety of service 
offerings. HomeFirst’s Grant and Per Diem program for Veterans was the first of 5 programs 
nationally to implement Low Demand services, we operated the first Emergency Interim 
Housing (EIH) in California, successfully implemented and resolved the first Safe Sleeping 
Program in Sonoma County and partnered with the Lab for Economic Opportunity to 
evidence the efficacy of rapid re-housing.
 
In instances of natural disaster, HomeFirst has been the non-profit leader our government 
partners trust to provide support. We operated Evacuee Transition Facilities to save the 
lives of unhoused persons living along the waterways during the extreme winter storms of 
2022 and operated a community shelter for households affected by the Seven Trees Flood 
in 2017.