Davis Community Meals and Housing

Davis Community Meals was founded as a non‑profit, non‑denominational volunteer organization to provide free meals for low‑income and homeless individuals and families in the Davis area. In its initial stage, these meals were served once each week, eventually to be increased to twice a week. The organizing process was initiated in August of 1990 by representatives of local religious and civic groups, as well as unaffiliated individuals. The weekly meals were initiated in February 1991 and in February 1993 a second weekly meal was added. Meals are now served on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 5:45 p.m. and Saturday mornings at 11:30 a.m. Davis Community Meals began operating a cold weather shelter for homeless individuals and families in January of 1993. This shelter was located in a city owned house in a residential area. The second shelter season began in November of 1993 and continued through April of 1994 located in a different rented single‑family home, again in a residential area. In addition to the shelter, Davis Community Meals opened a resource center in November 1993 to complement the cold weather shelter, offering referral information, housing assistance, employment training assistance, and public benefit counseling to homeless individuals, families, and those at risk of becoming homeless In 1994, with the assistance of numerous community members, and with financial support from the city, DCM acquired a tri-­plex at 1111 H Street, which had the capacity and amenities to suit the varied needs of the shelter and resource center programs. The move to a permanent site established a new and exciting era for Davis Community Meals. With a permanent building, DCM gained the opportunity to provide more stability and continuity to its clients, allowing for expansion and improvement of programs and services to homeless clients. By July of 1997, the programs of the DCM Shelter had evolved into the forms in which they exist today. Of the 16 beds at the shelter at 1111 H Street, 14 were made available for transitional housing for homeless single adults. In June 2001, we began offering a transitional housing program for families at several scattered sites throughout Davis. Currently, there are 8 sites, capable of providing housing for 3-5 individuals at each site. In January 2006, we opened a Cold Weather Shelter at 512 5th Street, Davis, CA. The shelter housed 10 adults: 8 men and 2 women. The shelter is not currently operational. During 2005, DCM became partners in an affordable housing development in Davis, Cesar Chavez Plaza, offering 52 units of housing, with 19 of the units set aside for "special needs" population of homeless or at-risk of homeless individuals and families with mental illness, physical disabilities or chronic substance abuse issues. The 19 units offer rents at "extremely-low income" rates and are affordable to those with minimal or fixed incomes. Cesar Chavez opened for occupancy on November 28, 2007. In 2015, we began a street outreach program providing outreach, assistance and referrals to those individuals and families living on the streets or other places not meant for human habitation. In 2016 we began a harm reduction model transitional housing program, New Pathways. In 2017, we began an employment program for homeless individuals, Pathways to Employment. In 2020, construction of Creekside was completed with 90 units of multifamily housing and providing permanent supportive housing to 26 homeless individuals. In the summer of 2021, we expect to break ground on Paul's Place to replace our facility at 1111 H Street. It will include a new resource center, transitional housing program and offer 18 units of permanent supportive housing to homeless individuals and families.