Safe Sleep Villages

Safe sleep villages were first born from the Coronavirus pandemic. Urban Alchemy stepped in to support the vulnerable in San Francisco by quickly opening the city’s first Safe Sleeping Village, in addition to the first three Shelter in Place hotels, to provide refuge for those struggling with acute addiction, trauma and mental health issues. Each Safe Sleep Village provides overnight guests with toilets, showers, charging stations, three nutritious meals a day and other amenities.

 

Urban Alchemy works in partnership with local residents, addressing their concerns and sending outreach teams to respond to antisocial behavior. As neighbors begin to experience increased peace in their communities, we often see a more welcoming and generous spirit towards Safe Sleep Villages.

 

Emergency Shelter Programs

Urban Alchemy runs Emergency Shelter Programs in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin to bring vulnerable people in from the streets at night and escape the fight-or-flight existence of homelessness. Our shelters have a low barrier for entry and a high threshold for expulsion. Instead of enforcing curfews and arbitrary rules, we take a trauma-informed approach where we “meet people where they are.” We let people bring their partners, pets and belongings into our shelters. 

 

Our Practitioners manage everything from general staffing, maintenance, security and case management services—-right through to daily tasks such as cleaning the bathrooms and checking in guests. Urban Alchemy also partners with several other service providers who regularly visit the sites to provide medical, mental health and other services.

 

Our Future Vision

In addition to safe spaces to sleep, unhoused individuals need supportive services and additional tools that will help them get back on their feet. That’s why in our Austin facility, we provide access to counseling such as Alcoholics Anonymous for residents. Our long-term vision for our shelters and safe sleep villages is to transform these spaces into healing and recovering spaces where residents will have access to resources they need to thrive. 

 

Where we operate:

• San Francisco 
• Los Angeles 
• Austin
• Portland

 

By the numbers

• We shelter over 900 people each night in low-barrier, client-centered facilities.
• We opened the first Los Angeles Safe Sleep Village for over 74 guests in 2021.
• More people were sheltered and housed in its first month of UA managing Austin’s emergency shelter ARCH than the previous operator had in the entire first quarter of Fiscal Year 2021-22.

 

Success Stories

“Urban Alchemy sheltered and housed more people in its first month managing ARCH than the previous operator had in the entire first quarter of Fiscal Year 2021-22.” — Austin Monitor

“The changes that have taken place both inside and outside the ARCH facility really appear to be nothing short of remarkable.” — Fox 7