Transition House

What it reported doing in 2024

Family Homeless Shelter and Housing ProgramsTransition House offers shelter, housing and antipoverty services for homeless families with children that come from the greater Santa Barbara area. Our goal is to help families gain the skills and the income they need to return to rental housing and to sustain it. Our programs include: Three-Stage Family Housing Continuum with Support Services. We offer a three-stage housing and services program designed around the needs of each family. The first stage begins with a four to five-month stay at our 70-bed emergency shelter. At the shelter, families recover from crisis, establish realistic income and savings goals with the help of a case manager, find or improve employment income, and come up with a housing plan. Some families that need additional time and wish to participate in continued services may apply for our second stage transitional housing, either at the Firehousea six-month program serving up to six families at a time; or at Balay Ko on Anapamu, which offers up 24 months of housing and services for up to 10 families at a time. Eligible families with very high barriers to stability may apply to our third stage program, HOMES, where they can live for two years or more in one of 36 Transition House-owned permanent supportive housing units.Our overall goal is to move families from homelessness and poverty into permanent housing and financial stability. Homeless families are in crisis when they arrive at our emergency shelter. They want to alleviate their familys suffering and return to housing, but the idea of amassing a savings account, having a meaningful career, or seeing their children one day attend collegethese are things of which they have never dreamed. Thanks to extensive case management education around financial literacy and career development, and special programs for children, families can achieve lasting economic stability and a healthy home environment.In 2024, Transition House served 396 people in all our programs. Of those, the shelter served a total of 256 homeless individuals (77 families); 157 of them were children. Of families that moved out of the shelter in 2024, 72% moved to permanent housing. As a result of participating in our program, 92% of adults became employed or maintained their employment and increased their income; and families saved an average of $3,604 towards housing costs. 92% of the families we served came from the greater Santa Barbara city area.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 54.4%; rating input score 54
• Program expense ratio: 85.6%; rating input score 86
• Fundraising efficiency: $22.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 38.1%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.84; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.35; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 9.8%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings