User:Bbriscall/my sandbox

RainCity Housing and Support Society is a nonprofit based in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

History
RainCity Housing began as a project of St James Community Service Society. The Triage Emergency Shelter first opened its doors on January 1, 1982. It was the brain child of Robert White, former St. James Executive Director and May Gutteridge, a strong advocate for the homeless in the Downtown Eastside. The shelter was opened in response to the large numbers of people coming into the Downtown Eastside (DTES) due to the deinstitutionalization of Riverview Hospital. Many of these individuals had long been disconnected from their families and ultimately ended up in the DTES because of the large concentration of affordable hotel rooms whose rent was equivalent to the amount people on income assistance, or welfare, received for rent.

Triage quickly developed a reputation for supporting people many other organizations would not work with. Triage responded to people who failed to sustain their housing due to untreated mental illnesses, addictions and being evicted from hotel rooms.

In October of 1990 the shelter became an independent non-profit organization, Triage Emergency Services & Care Society. On July 1, 1993 the Triage Shelter was moved to 707 Powell Street into a purpose-built building that provided 28 shelter beds (19 for men, 9 for women) and an additional 27 unit apartment building called Windchimes Apartments. The organization remained relative unchanged for the rest of the nineties and was able to take a closer look at the changing neighbourhood and determine best practices to assist the people they worked with.

On January 30, 2008 Triage Emergency services & Care Society officially changed its name to RainCity Housing and Support Society. RainCity Housing currently (Jan 2011) provides hosing to 486 people, operates 14 different programs, and employees almost 300 people.

Model of Service
Harm reduction, Housing First, Strengths Bades Model

Programs
The programs at RainCity Housing fall into several categories:
 * Emergency Housing
 * Transitional Housing
 * Long Term Housing
 * Outreach
 * Meal Programs
 * Community Integration Support