Housing Matters
Housing Matters
115 CORAL STREET
Santa Cruz CA 95060-0000
Santa Cruz CA | IRS ruling year: 1990 | EIN: 77-0126783
PROVIDE EMERGENCY AND TRANSITIONAL SERVICES TO HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS IN THE COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ.
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115 CORAL STREET
Santa Cruz CA 95060-0000
Santa Cruz CA | IRS ruling year: 1990 | EIN: 77-0126783
PROVIDE EMERGENCY AND TRANSITIONAL SERVICES TO HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS IN THE COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ.
Great
This charity's score is 100%, earning it a Four-Star rating. If this organization aligns with your passions and values, you can give with confidence.
This overall score is calculated from multiple beacon scores: 33% Accountability & Finance, 57% Impact & Results, 10% Leadership & Adaptability. Learn more about our criteria and methodology.
We recognize that not all metrics and beacons equally predict a charity’s success. The percentage each beacon contributes to the organization’s overall rating depends on the number of beacons an organization has earned.
Use the tool below to select different beacons to see how the weighting shifts when only one, two, or three beacons are earned.
Rating histories are available for a growing number of rated organizations. Check back later to see if this organization has a rating history!
Housing Matters has earned a 100% for the Accountability & Finance beacon. See the metrics below for more information.
This beacon provides an assessment of a charity's financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies.
This Accountability & Finance score represents IRS Form 990 data up until FY 2021, which is the most recent Form 990 currently available to us.
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Charity Navigator looks for at least 3 board members, with more than 50% of those members identified as independent (not salaried).
The presence of an independent governing body is strongly recommended by many industry professionals to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters.
Source: IRS Form 990
An Audit, Review, or Compilation provides important information about financial accountability and accuracy. Organizations are scored based on their Total Revenue Amount:
Total Revenue Amount | Expectation to Receive Credit |
---|---|
$1 million or higher | Expected to complete an audit |
$500,000 - $1 million | Expected to complete an audit, review, or compilation |
Less than $500,000 | No expectation (removed from scoring methodology) |
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a conflict of interest policy on the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy protects the organization and by extension those it serves, when it is considering entering into a transaction that may benefit the private interest of an officer, director and/or key employee of the organization.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990 that the organization has this process in place as an accountability and transparency measure.
An official record of the events that take place during a board meeting ensures that a contemporaneous document exists for future reference.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a document retention and destruction policy per the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy establishes guidelines for the handling, backing up, archiving and destruction of documents. These guidelines foster good record keeping procedures that promote data integrity.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a whistleblower policy per the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy outlines procedures for handling employee complaints, as well as a confidential way for employees to report financial or other types of mismanagement.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for a website on the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency metric.
Nonprofits act in the public trust and reporting publicly on activities is an important component.
Source: IRS Form 990
The Liabilities to Assets Ratio is determined by Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets (most recent 990). This ratio is an indicator of an organization’s solvency and/or long-term sustainability.
Liabilities to Assets Ratio | Amount of Credit Received |
---|---|
Less than 50% | Full Credit |
50% - 59.9% | Partial Credit |
60% or more | No Credit |
Source: IRS Form 990
The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three 990s). This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver.
Program Expense Percentage | Amount of Credit Received |
---|---|
70% or higher | Full Credit |
60% - 69.9% | Partial Credit |
50% - 59.9% | Zero Points for Program Expense Score |
Below 50% | Zero Points for Both Program Expense AND Liabilities to Assets Scores |
Source: IRS Form 990
This chart displays the trend of revenue and expenses over the past several years for this organization, as reported on their IRS Form 990.
No Data Available
Key Persons data is currently unavailable for this organization. This data is only available if this charity has at least one year of electronically-filed Form 990 data filed within the last six years.
Below are some key data points from the Exempt Organization IRS Business Master File (BMF) for this organization. Learn more about the BMF on the IRS website
Activities:
Activity data not reported from the IRS
Foundation Status:
Organization which receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or the general public 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) (BMF foundation code: 15)
Affiliation:
Independent - the organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e., not affiliated with a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations). (BMF affiliation code: 3)
The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. We leverage finance and accountability data from it to form Encompass ratings. Click here to search for this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website (if any are available). Simply enter the organization's name (Housing Matters) or EIN (770126783) in the 'Search Term' field.
This organization was impacted by COVID-19 in a way that effected their financial health in 2020. This normally would have reduced their star rating. Due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, we give charities such as this one the opportunity to share the story of COVID's impact on them, and doing this pauses our revision of their rating. Charities may submit their own pandemic responses through their nonprofit portal.
Housing Matters reported being impacted by COVID-19 in the following ways:
Program Delivery
How COVID-19 impacted the organization's operations financially:
The pandemic did not affect the financial structure of our organization.
How COVID-19 impacted the organization's delivery of programs:
The pandemic affected the delivery of our programs due to social distancing requirements. Prior to Covid-19, our Loft emergency shelter program was a congregate facility with bunk beds to shelter as many guests as possible. When the Covid restrictions began, we had to quickly pivot to the use of pallet shelters.
How this organization adapted to changing conditions caused by COVID-19:
Utilizing pallet shelters, we were actually able to increase the number of shelter beds available on our campus from 40 to 57. Additionally, we provide meals "to go" and added a third daily meal to support our guests to shelter in place.
Innovations the organization intends to continue permanently after the pandemic:
We learned a lot! The number one thing we learned moving from congregate shelter to the pallet shelters was that our guests feel safer, experience less trauma, and succeed sooner with a door. Some guests that were reluctant to come on campus, couples for instance that would have been separated in the previous congregate model, are now interested in enrolling in a program and staying in a pallet shelter because they can stay together.
Housing Matters has earned a 100% for the Impact & Results beacon. See the metrics below for more information.
This beacon estimates the actual impact a charity has on the lives of those it serves, and determines whether it is making good use of donor resources to achieve that impact.
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Program
Emergency Shelter Programs
Activities
The nonprofit provides people experiencing homelessness with a temporary place to stay.
Program Type
Emergency Shelter
Beneficiaries Served
Program Geography
Time Period of Data
7/1/19 to 6/30/20
Outcomes: Changes in the lives of those served by a nonprofit. They can be caused by the nonprofit.
Costs: The money spent by a nonprofit and its partners and beneficiaries.
Impact: Outcome caused by a nonprofit relative to its cost.
Cost-effectiveness: A judgment as to whether the cost was a good use of resources to cause the outcome.
Outcome Metric
A night of shelter for a person experiencing homelessness
Outcome Data Source
Ratings are based on data the nonprofit itself collects on its work. We use the most recent year with sufficient data. Typically, this data allows us to calculate direct changes in participants' lives, such as increased income.
Outcome data collected during the program. The nonprofit submitted data on nights of shelter provided.
Method for Attributing Outcomes
We don't know if the observed changes were caused by the nonprofit's program or something else happening at the same time (e.g., a participant got a raise). To determine causation, we take the outcomes we observe and subtract an estimate of the outcomes that would have happened even without the program (i.e., counterfactual outcomes).
We assume that the provision of shelter by one nonprofit does not diminish the provision of shelter by any other (neighboring) nonprofit. We also assume there is, in general, no slack capacity in the homeless shelter system. In the absence of a given shelter, beneficiaries would not be able to stay at another shelter because other shelters are assumed to have no beds to spare. We therefore set the counterfactual to zero.
Cost Data Source
After estimating the program's outcomes, we need to determine how much it cost to achieve those outcomes. All monetary costs are counted, whether they are borne by a nonprofit service deliverer or by the nonprofit’s public and private partners.
Program cost data reported by the nonprofit. Partner and beneficiary costs reported by the nonprofit or estimated by Charity Navigator.
Cost Calculation
$2,467,058 program costs + $0 partner costs + $0 beneficiary costs = $2,467,058 total costs
We calculate impact, defined as the change in outcomes attributable to a program divided by the cost to achieve those outcomes.
Impact Calculation
$2,467,058 total costs / 52,106 nights of shelter provided = roughly $50 provides a night of shelter to a person experiencing homelessness.
Benchmark for Rating
Impact & Results scores of emergency shelters are based on the cost of providing a night of shelter relative to the Fair Market Rent in that county. Programs receive an Impact & Results score of 100 if they are less than 200% the Fair Market Rent and a score of 80 if they are less than 400%. If a nonprofit reports impact but doesn't meet the benchmark for cost-effectiveness, it earns a score of 65.
Determination
Highly cost-effective
Housing Matters reported its largest program on its FY 2021 Form 990 as:
Spent in most recent FY
Percent of program expenses
FOUNDED IN 1986, HOUSING MATTERS IS A 501(C)3 NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION THAT PARTNERS WITH INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES IN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY TO CREATE PATHWAYS OUT OF THEIR HOMELESSNESS INTO PERMANENT HOUSIN ... (More)
FOUNDED IN 1986, HOUSING MATTERS IS A 501(C)3 NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION THAT PARTNERS WITH INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES IN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY TO CREATE PATHWAYS OUT OF THEIR HOMELESSNESS INTO PERMANENT HOUSING. WE HOLD FIRMLY TO A VISION THAT HOMELESSNESS IN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SHOULD BE RARE, BRIEF, AND NON-RECURRING AND ARE COMMITTED TO PROVIDING PROGRAMS BASED IN HOUSING FIRST PRACTICES. HOUSING FIRST IS A RECOVERY-ORIENTED, DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH THAT CENTERS ON QUICKLY MOVING PEOPLE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS INTO INDEPENDENT AND PERMANENT HOUSING AND THEN PROVIDING ADDITIONAL SUPPORTS AND SERVICES AS NEEDED. BY UTILIZING EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES, HOUSING MATTERS IS SUCCESSFULLY EXCEEDING GOALS IN HOUSING SOME OF THE MOST VULNERABLE POPULATIONS IN THE COUNTY.HOUSING MATTERS PROVIDES A CONTINUUM OF SERVICES THROUGH THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMS:1) PAUL LEE LOFT EMERGENCY SHELTER (PLL) PROVIDES EMERGENCY SHELTER TO UP TO 40 PEOPLE NIGHTLY.2) REBELE FAMILY SHELTER (RFS) PROVIDES EMERGENCY SHELTER TO FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN AND PROVIDES STABLE SHELTER TO 28 FAMILIES (UP TO 90 INDIVIDUALS) AT ANY GIVEN TIME.3) PAGE SMITH COMMUNITY HOUSE IS A TRANSITIONAL HOUSING PROGRAM THAT PROVIDES UP TO 18 MONTHS OF SUPPORTIVE SERVICE TO UP TO 40 INDIVIDUAL MEN AND WOMEN AT A TIME.4) RECUPERATIVE CARE CENTER (RCC) IS A 12-BED MEDICAL RESPITE SHELTER OPERATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SANTA CRUZ COUNTY'S HOMELESS PERSON'S HEALTH PROJECT, AND SEVERAL LOCAL HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS.5) SUPPORTIVE SERVICES AND HOUSING NAVIGATION PROGRAMS THAT CONNECT INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES WITH APPROPRIATE HOUSING SOLUTIONS AND PROVIDE AFTER-HOUSING SERVICES TO SUPPORT LONG-TERM HOUSING SUCCESS.HOUSING MATTERS' CAMPUS PROVIDES A RESTORATIVE EXPERIENCE WITH ACCESS TO ON-SITE MEDICAL, DENTAL AND MENTAL HEALTH CARE THROUGH OUR PARTNERS: SANTA CRUZ COUNTY'S HOMELESS PERSON'S HEALTH PROJECT, DIENTES DENTAL AND ENCOMPASS COMMUNITY SERVICES. DURING FY 2021, WE SERVED 2,507 iNDIVIDUALS THROUGH A VARIETY OF PROGRAMS. WE PROVIDED OVER 52,214 BEDNIGHTS, SERVED 34,203 MEALS, SHELTERED 422 PEOPLE, HELPED 270 PEOPLE FIND PERMANENT HOUSING AND PROVIDED CASE MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORTIVE SERVICES TO 857 PEOPLE THROUGH A VARIETY OF PROGRAMS. (Less)
Housing Matters cannot currently be evaluated by our Culture & Community methodology because we have not received data from the charity regarding its Constituent Feedback or Equity Practices strategies.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.
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Housing Matters has earned a 100% for the Leadership & Adaptability beacon. See the metrics below for more information.
This beacon provides an assessment of the organization's leadership capacity, strategic thinking and planning, and ability to innovate or respond to changes in constituent demand/need or other relevant social and economic conditions to achieve the organization's mission.
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The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization's mission
Housing Matters partners with individuals and families to create pathways out of their homelessness into permanent housing.
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s vision.
We hold firmly to a vision that homelessness in Santa Cruz County should be rare, brief, and non-recurring.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking and goal setting through sharing their most important strategic goals.
Goal One: Programs: deliver effective programs that move more people into permanent housing.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
Goal Two: Advocacy & System Leadership: advocate for community-wide collective action to reduce homelessness.
Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.
Goal Three: Organizational Capacity: build capacity to support organizational growth and ongoing sustainability.
Goal Type: Invest in the capacity of our organization (financial, management, technical, etc.).
The nonprofit provides evidence of investment in leadership development
Housing Matters created a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee to re-examine staffing and leadership policies in light of the Black Lives Matter movement. This committee arranged for in-depth DEI training for all employees and board members.
The nonprofit provides evidence of leadership through focusing externally and mobilizing resources for the mission.
Strategic Partnerships
Networks of Collective Impact Efforts
Thought Leadership
Raising Awareness
Community Building
Policy Advocacy
Housing Matters works with numerous public and private agencies to resolve homelessness in Santa Cruz County. Housing Matters led the acclaimed county-wide, nonprofit and public programs collaborative 180 Together. The campaign began in 2014 as 180/180, with the goal of finding permanent housing for 180 individuals and families by July 2014 and turning their lives around 180 degrees. Since that time, the project has housed over 1100 individuals and the goal has expanded to end chronic and veteran homelessness in the county. We are a Built for Zero partner dedicated to ending homelessness using measurable data to reach functional zero in the community. Other service provider partners include: Encompass Community Services, Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter, Homeless Garden Project, Families in Transition, Nation's Finest, U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Dominican Hospital, and Palo Alto Medical Foundation.
The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
Over the past 12 months we have had to adapt both our client-facing and staff-directed processes to accommodate pandemic restrictions and the need for social distancing. One of the most visible aspects of this adaptation is the addition of 40 pallet shelters on our campus. These emergency shelters have made it possible for people experiencing homelessness to shelter in place safely. These temporary shelters also make it possible for some of our guests to have their pets in shelter with them.
Impact & Results
Accountability & Finance
Culture & Community
Leadership & Adaptability
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