Success Stories

The Hart Family

After eight months at Raphael House, and over a year of housing instability, the Hart family finally has a home to call their own. It took many months of hard work for the family to make it to this point. Andrea Hart and her children Jessi (8 years old) and Beni (2 years old) came to Raphael House in August 2017, after sleeping in their car and emergency shelters for nearly four months. The family had lost their housing in Fairfield after an unexpected change in family composition, which forced Andrea and her children to come to San Francisco in search of resources.

Andrea was faced with a number of challenges once arriving to San Francisco. As a single mother of two young children in an unfamiliar city, she was left to navigate a complicated array of services on her own. Once entering Raphael House and having a stable place to return to every night, Andrea was finally able to focus on a plan to increase her income and secure housing. With the support of the Family Wellness Care Coordinator, the Career Development Manager, and her Case Manager, Andrea immediately began searching for childcare, a well-paying job, and housing.

Within three months, she became a receptionist at San Francisco Public Utilities in the Human Resources Department, and had secured childcare for her son. With the help of her case manager, Andrea tirelessly searched for housing, and successfully found a rental in San Pablo. Andrea shared how much her family benefited from the structure at Raphael House, including family dinners and children’s evening programming. While excited to move to her new home in just two weeks, Andrea has expressed sadness to be leaving the Raphael House community. She plans to continue receiving services through the Bridge Program, to maintain her work on financial and career planning. Today, Andrea is a teacher’s assistant and a micro school in Berkeley and continues to live in San Pablo. “If I didn’t have Raphael House to give me a stable place to live while I was homeless, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”