Our Mission:
Partners in Housing Solutions helps people who are experiencing homelessness to secure and retain permanent housing through our network of private landlords.
Our Story
Our journey began in 2015 when a dedicated group of accomplished and passionate individuals from Social Venture Partners Santa Barbara (SVPSB) led a homelessness conference at UCSB. They hosted training for 100-150 people in non-profits during the day and a public forum that evening with speakers from across the nation. The county interest was high and the forum was attended by almost 700 locals. “It was well received, but some of us were left wondering how much we really helped”, said an SVPSB member.
That thought led to the development of a task force to tackle this complicated issue. Assuming that Santa Barbara was not unique in this challenge, the research began to find an existing solution. They discovered a program in Seattle that started in 2009 that had included landlords in its development called The Landlord Liaison Project. It was based on a collaborative effort between landlords, social service agencies and people experiencing homelessness to overcome barriers to permanent housing. Over the next five years, LLP increased the number of people housed by ten times; over 7,000 people were housed in just six years.
This was the answer we were looking for. The coin had forever dropped. We had a strong desire to make BIG strides. We wanted to house MORE homeless individuals. We wanted a HOMERUN and this was our answer. So in 2015 Partners in Housing Solutions (formerly Landlord Liaison Partnership) was born. We have connected over 1,160 individuals to their permanent homes in Santa Barbara County since then and our vision is to house more and more.
What began as a passion for change has since developed into a program with strong personal relationships at its foundation that is making a tangible difference in the homeless community.