A Lifetime Commitment of Care

Deborah Leigh Stevens, 68, was living on the streets of West Hollywood in 2014, within blocks of her former apartment. She had lived most of her life in the area, much of it with her elderly mother, and worked as a paralegal. But then her mother died, their apartment building was sold, rents soared, and she found herself a senior citizen with nowhere to go. 

Celina Alvarez, now executive director of the nonprofit Housing Works, met her on a park bench and they forged a bond. Housing Works found Stevens housing, and while she hated to leave her beloved West Hollywood, she gratefully moved to Azusa to live safely inside. Two years later, she was diagnosed with cancer and after a five-year battle, Housing Works ensured she had hospice care. Alvarez sat by Stevens’ bed in her final days, letting her know how much she was loved and appreciated. It was Housing Works’ loving staff who attended her burial. 

“One life, one relationship, one person at a time” is Housing Works’ motto. And it is the only way Alvarez knows how to do this work. 

And the work Alvarez and her dedicated team at Housing Works do is nothing short of visionary and life-changing. Believing that “housing is a right not a privilege,” they aim to end homelessness through housing, health, and community. For people experiencing homelessness, housing is just the first step. Housing Works and their programs go far beyond that – with employment and educational enrichment and support to enhance food security. With the idea being to keep that housing permanent and support the ability of those they work with to thrive in the community. 

“You don’t show up to the people we are serving on a limited-time basis,” Alvarez says. “It’s got to be a lifetime commitment, in order to ensure that we can keep people off the streets.”  

California accounts for 28% of the unhoused in the nation, with more than 181,000 people living without permanent shelter – 75,300 people in L.A. County alone. In Santa Barbara County the most recent Point in Time Count showed an 11% increase in homelessness. 

“We really push to understand what’s happening in the person’s life and figure out: what do we need to do to overcome the barriers that are creating challenges for people to get inside,” says Alvarez. “It is very, very rare that we have to turn someone away.” 

Founded in 2003, by co-founder Mary Kirchen, a member of the Immaculate Heart Community of Montecito, Housing Works has grown and now gives on-site support for more than 800 people in 11 housing sites and in individual housing. And it has a 93% success rate of housing retention. Through its mobile team (MIST), Housing Works helps locate the chronically homeless and retain housing and other critical services for them. 

Housing Works believes that this dire humanitarian crisis can be solved by a one-on-one commitment of care based on empowerment, forgiveness, love, and compassion that fuels living environments that allow people to flourish and become thriving members of the community.