Season of Sharing

The Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund provides temporary assistance to help people living in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties. Since 1986, the Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund has distributed more than $185 million to help individuals and families in need.

The Chronicle SOS Fund provides annual funding to the Alameda County Social Services Agency to assist eligible households in Alameda County who are experiencing an emergency, crisis, or unexpected event that threatens housing stability. The principal purpose of the Season of Sharing Fund program is to keep people stably in their homes or support transition into more affordable, safe, permanent housing. The Social Services Agency collaborates with numerous community partner agencies to screen and process applications for assistance.

SOS Recipient Patti Medina

"The Season of Sharing helped me breathe a little easier. It gave us both a break. I'm extremely grateful. I don't know what we would have done without it."

Photo credit: Santiago Mejia, San Francisco Chronicle.

Season of Sharing Fund services are not intended to provide continuous, long-term assistance, rather, assistance is considered short-term with the goal of promoting long-term stability.

The primary categories of assistance considered under the Alameda County Season of Sharing Program are:

Housing Assistance (HA)

• Security deposit for permanent housing
• Rent or mortgage

Critical Family Needs (CFN)

• Utilities (electricity, gas, or water) under threat of shut-off or already shut off at current residence
• Limited furniture items under specific circumstances including fire/catastrophe, extended homelessness, and domestic violence
• Limited medical equipment and mobility aids (deemed medically necessary and not otherwise covered by insurance)

The Season of Sharing Fund provides one-time, non-recurring financial assistance to individuals and families who have emergency needs that cannot be met through other resources.

CRITERIA
Applicants must be current Alameda County residents (minimum 6 continuous months) in one of the following categories:

• Families with dependent children (age 18 and under) living in the home
• Permanently disabled individuals (18 years & older and receiving SSDI/SSI or medically verified)
• Older individuals, age 55 and older
• Former foster youth, ages 18-24
• Veterans
• Survivors of intimate partner violence and violent crimes (coming from a shelter: one year since disruption of household; self-referral: six months since disruption of household).
• Pregnant individuals in their 2nd trimester or later

Documentation will be required to confirm each household's eligibility status. Simply meeting these criteria DOES NOT entitle or guarantee a household assistance. Assistance is based on merit and the greatest need of applicants.

Additional Information

• Assistance may be received by a household only once every 5 years. Applicants are screened for prior funding.
• The program operates year-round. Eligible applicants can apply any time during the year.
• SOS is crisis-based and not an entitlement program. Funding is not guaranteed.
• Requests for assistance must be supported by a valid and documented housing crisis.

To initiate an inquiry, call the automated pre-screening line at (510) 272-3700. You will be asked to answer a series of questions using the keypad on your phone.

Be prepared to provide basic information, including:

• phone number(s),
• type and amount of assistance requested, and
• sources of household income.

After the caller inputs their answers and completes the pre-screening, they are added to a waitlist to receive a call from intake Staff for additional screening to determine eligibility. Please be advised that response time will fluctuate depending on the volume of callers.

Participating in the phone screening does not guarantee or entitle anyone to SOS assistance. During the application process, applicants should not inform landlords, property owners, banks, mortgage lenders, or service providers of payment commitments of any sort. It is the applicant’s responsibility to present all relevant information and documentation. Any misrepresentation of circumstances, omission of financial information, or withholding of crucial information during this screening or intake processes will be basis for denial of the request of assistance and no additional SOS requests will be accepted in the future.