In the News
Casa Esperanza, operated by the nonprofit Episcopal Community Services under a contract with the County of San Mateo, is part of a growing network of permanent supportive housing sites the County has recently opened. The model pairs affordable rents – residents typically pay no more than 30 percent of their income – with on-site services designed to help residents stay housed as they address financial, health or family challenges.
Read the full County of San Mateo article here.
The Minna Lee, where ECS provides services, was recently featured in KQED for innovative programming that is reducing drug overdoses.
ECS is the fourth largest housing developer in the Bay Area. Read the full San Francisco Business Times article.
Beth Stokes, executive director of Episcopal Community Services San Francisco, worries the order threatens to undo decades of progress in the movement to end homelessness.
“We are deeply troubled by the administration’s executive order, which abandons compassionate and evidence-based programs, like harm reduction and housing first, and replaces them with cruel policies such as forced treatment and criminalizing poor people for being unhoused,” she said in a statement. “Instead of investing in solutions we know work, this policy punishes people for the system’s failures.”
Beth Stokes — executive director of the San Francisco-based shelter-and-services provider Episcopal Community Services — said she hopes at least some of those vouchers might be used to address another choke point in The City’s shelter and supportive-housing system.
Stokes told The Examiner that too often, the system — which generally prioritizes those with the highest needs, including those with medical or mental health challenges as well as those who have been on the street the longest — has neglected many relatively well-off people.
“Once we meet that person who comes into shelter, they might say, ‘Hey, I have a full time job. I’m making $1,500 a month,’” [ECS Executive Director Beth Stokes] said. “That’s a perfect person to get out of the system really quickly,” with even a modest amount of support such as, for example, an emergency housing voucher.
HCLA designed 1064 Mission Street in San Francisco, the largest and most complex publicly funded, modular development of its kind dedicated to supporting people who’ve been chronically homeless. The project includes a pioneering convergence of program: 256 studio apartments and an array of shared indoor and outdoor supportive spaces for adults and seniors, the Maria X Martinez Health Resource Center, the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team Headquarters and Episcopal Community Services’ CHEFS program, a social enterprise that trains formerly unhoused adults to be chefs in local commercial kitchens.
“Completed in January, 600 Seventh includes larger units with two and three bedrooms, and a comprehensive mix of resident and supportive services. Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco provides essential supportive housing services to help residents maintain stability.”
“ECS’ Executive Director Beth Stokes spoke with The Examiner in a recent interview about the challenges in running a nonprofit in San Francisco. She said she’s prepared for changes both good and bad in the coming months as Mayor Daniel Lurie’s administration addresses The City’s homelessness crisis and changes from President Donald Trump’s administration threaten federal avenues of support.”
“If we’re gonna continue to operate the housing, we have to pay the insurance,” said Chris Callandrillo, ECS’ Chief Program Officer. “We’ve got to get that from somewhere, and that burden is huge.”
For Pride Month, the editorial teams at the Nob Hill Gazette and the San Francisco Examiner wanted toshine a spotlight on leaders in the LGBTQ+ community, those who are making a difference in the City that is synonymous with Pride. In 2025, when federal rights are being challenged, accomplishments erased and identities targeted, this focus feels more important than ever. Thank you, Nob Hill Gazette, for featuring ECS’ work.