On May 22nd, Ken Reggio, Executive Director of Episcopal Community Services (ECS) and Richard Springwater, ECS Board Member, jointly announced the naming of its newest supportive housing site, the Bishop Swing Community House, in honor of William E. Swing, a founder of ECS and retiring Bishop of the Diocese of California.  The ECS Board of Directors wanted to recognize Bishop Swing’s inspiring leadership in creating programs and services for homeless people over the past two decades.  Bishop Swing Community House will provide permanent housing with on-site social services for 134 homeless adults in SRO-style apartments when it is completed in 2008.

To accomplish a building project of this size is truly a collaboration of the entire community and would be impossible without the partnership of the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing, the SF Redevelopment Agency, the SF Department of Public Health, and Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, and with the interest and assistance of numerous lenders and advocates including the Corporation for Supportive Housing, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the Low Income Investment Fund, and Catholic Healthcare West. ECS is well on its way toward development of Bishop Swing Community House located at 275 10th Street.  ECS expects to begin construction in 2007 and to open its doors in July 2008.  

Bishop Swing Community House follows ECS’s development of Canon Kip Community House in 1994, the first new-construction permanent supportive housing for disabled adults in San Francisco. Housing 103 people, Canon Kip also has a senior center open 365 days a year offering a hot meal, fellowship and extensive case management support. The CHEFS program, part of ECS’s Skills Center also operates out of Canon Kip, providing food service training and job placement to homeless San Franciscans interested in the culinary industry. In 2002 ECS opened its family building,  the Canon Barcus Community House, offering permanent supportive housing to 47 families with on-site social services including an infant and toddler program operated by Holy Family Day Homes and an after school program run by the Embarcadero YMCA .  Both Canon Barcus and Canon Kip involved substantial contributions of public funding and significant support from the private sector.

Tonight and every night, Episcopal Community Services (ECS) provides shelter to nearly 500 men and women at the Sanctuary and Next Door shelters, and collaborates to provide permanent, supportive housing for an additional 1,000 men, women and children at our Canon Barcus Community House, Canon Kip Community House, and at nine other supportive housing locations.