Financial Transparency - Annual Update 2021
2021 Annual Report
Over the weekend of March 12 and 13 we had three public presentations of our 2021 Annual Report—in-person in Freeland, in-person in Oak Harbor, and virtual on Zoom. Here is the material from those presentations:
The South Whidbey Homeless Coalition was incorporated in 2014 and has been doing business as the more encompassing Whidbey Homeless Coalition since 2017. It has continued to grow over that time to include major assets such as two houses—the House of Hope in Langley and the Haven (aka Morris Road complex) in Coupeville—and multiple vans to transport our Haven guests from registration sites to the evening shelter and back to designated drop off points in Oak Harbor. These assets give us and our guests much needed stability. Although this model increases our administration expense (through supervision, taxes, interest, and depreciation costs), that is offset by reduced cost of other models (such as rental, motels, etc.)
Currently, the Haven operates as a pop-up shelter using Church-donated space. This requires working with multiple churches for housing throughout the year, moving locations, and set-up and tear down each day. In 2021, we purchased a facility on Morris Road in Coupeville that will serve as the Haven’s permanent residence once we are granted an occupancy permit, hopefully before the end of 2022.
In 2021, we acquired most of the restricted funds to complete the remodel (adding two-hour fire-suppression, pumps, water reservoirs, showers, and laundry facilities) and applied for construction permits. In 2022, we plan to acquire our Type II permit, complete the conversion, and finish the Type III permitting to allow 30 occupants. The Haven will remain a nighttime only Emergency Shelter per country covenants levied on the property at closing.
990 Tax Returns
You are always welcome to review our tax filings here or on Candid (Guidestar), where we have maintained a gold Seal for transparency.
2021 Coming in June
16,125 guest-nights
We are proud of our programs’ ability to maintain inexpensive housing for our guests. We provide our services for far less than the cheapest transient housing options in the area, which are motel rooms at $80-$100 per night. The Haven has a capacity of 10,950 annual-guest-nights and the House of Hope has a 5,475 annual-guest-night capacity.
2021 brought progress in nearly every metric for delivering services and improved program outcomes. The ultimate measure of our financial progress is the cost of putting a “head in a bed.” Both of our programs cost around $30 per person per night. This is a fully-loaded cost, which includes program and administrative costs. These numbers are calculated based on full occupancy at the Haven at 30 people and the House of Hope at 16 people.
You simply cannot find a more cost effective housing option in the county.*
The House of Hope |
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| 2021 | 2020 | |
| Annual Cost: | $141,529 | $166,599 |
| Cost per guest per night: | $25.85 | $30.43 |
The Haven |
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| 2021 | 2020 | |
| Annual Cost: | $355,437 | $342,599 |
| Cost per guest per night: | $32.46 | $31.29 |
* For comparison, according to rentdata.org the fair market rental price in Island county for 2022 is approximately $920/month for a studio or one-bedroom apartment. That is $30.35 per day… if the units existed. This does not include the cost of utilities (water, power, sewage, garbage, and heat), which run at about $3 per day—for a total of $33.35 per day. Our services also include case management and transportation.
2021 Details
Expenses
We provide services. What we do requires people working with people. Therefore, our largest expense is in wages. Seventy-eight percent of our expenses go to hiring and training the right people to help our guests.
Although, at this writing, we do not have the final number, about 82% of our expenses go directly to our programs. This number will be updated when our 2022 990 Tax form is complete in May.
Program Funding
The Morris Road facility dominated program funding. This facility will replace of our current Haven pop-up shelter with a permanent night-to-night shelter. Morris Road constituted 58% of our total program funding in 2021.
Our biggest challenge is that a significant majority of program funding was restricted. We need more unrestricted funds to better address our needs across all program operations and management.
New Stipulations
After reviewing programs at other homeless shelters, we decided to add new stipulations to our transitional housing program. Guests must:
Be employed (exceptions are made if guests provide proof of seeking employment daily)
Place at least 30% of their household income into savings
Seek housing weekly
Adhere to stronger action plans
Fulfill all of their referred services
This resulted in better program outcomes.
Improved Outcomes
Positive outcomes increased 83% with eleven households moving into housing, rehabilitation centers, or assisted living
Referred services increased 47% with tighter connections in nearly every category from mental health counseling to medical referrals
Program Growth
We maintain a diverse source for program funding. 2020 and 2021 have seen a significant shift in sources for two reasons:
Purchase of the new Haven facility on Morris Road. The Department of Commerce and Island County assisted the coalition in purchasing the future permanent home for the Haven—what we temporarily call the Morris Road facility. However, the support from the local faith-based community cannot be overlooked. They helped fund a majority of the facility’s anticipated renovation cost.
COVID-19 restrictions on events. Due to restrictions on in-person events, we were limited to safe outdoor events. Generous community members conduct personal events (such as, yard sales, barn sales, an sales of home made goods at local farmer’s markets) and donated their proceeds to the Coalition.
Donations, from people like you, have held steady throughout this period. Thank you!