SAMMINISTRIES

San Antonio became the first community in the U.S. to surpass a nationwide effort to help end homelessness, city officials announced Monday.

There is a clear need for permanent supportive housing, but also a long history of not-in-my-backyard attitudes.

Sky high housing costs are affecting us all, but they're hitting people experiencing homelessness especially hard.

Since Aug. 1, SAMMinistries and other agencies housed an average of about four people per day during the local "housing surge" initiative.

Seventy-one names were called out during SAMMinistries' 15th annual Homeless Persons' Memorial Service on Tuesday.

A single father who’d been living in a van with his five children is among 538 unhoused individuals and families no longer out on the streets.

SAMMinistries, which provides services to families experiencing homelessness, received a new grant to help eliminate financial hurdles caused by small legal expenses.

In this episode of KSAT Explains, we took a closer look at the debate over encampments by talking to people experiencing homelessness and those fighting every day to help them change that.

A downtown San Antonio hotel-turned-homeless-shelter has already started filling vacancies, though it’s not fully open yet.

San Antonio’s homeless population will soon be able to seek shelter at the downtown...

The City of San Antonio will lease a downtown hotel to use as a low-barrier shelter for people experiencing chronic homelessness.

Starting in July, homeless people will be able to stay at a downtown hotel as SAMMinistries works to connect them with permanent housing.

To help the community during this difficult time, KSAT12 recently donated $25,000 towards the Let’s Help SA fund. By donating $25,000 to the “Let’s Help SA” project with Morgan’s Wonderland, we can help the city get back on the road to healing. These organizations are SAMMinistries, the San Antonio Food Bank and Haven for Hope. Haven for Hope provides, coordinates and delivers an efficient system of care for people experiencing homelessness in San Antonio. AdThe Let’s Help SA emergency fund will be open for donations through 11:59 pm this Sunday, February 28.

These organizations are SAMMinistries, the San Antonio Food Bank and Haven for Hope. The San Antonio Food Bank provides food to those in need. AdHaven for Hope provides, coordinates and delivers an efficient system of care for people experiencing homelessness in San Antonio. To help the community during this difficult time, KSAT12 recently donated $25,000 towards the Let’s Help SA fund. By donating $25,000 to the “Let’s Help SA” project with Morgan’s Wonderland, we can help the city get back on the road to healing.

SAN ANTONIO – This week’s winter storm wreaked havoc in San Antonio and across the state of Texas. AdSalvation Army San Antonio Area CommandThe Salvation Army is asking for donations to support San Antonio families fighting to survive the cold. San Antonio Pets AliveSan Antonio Pets Alive was forced to close locations this week due to the storm, but their work has continued to keep their dogs and cats warm. San Antonio Food BankThe San Antonio Food Bank is preparing to provide emergency outreach to community members in need after being affected by the recent winter storms. For more information about the mega food distribution sites this weekend, call the San Antonio Food Bank helpline at 210-431-8326 during regular business hours on Friday or Saturday.

SAN ANTONIO – Every January, volunteers with homeless organizations across the nation take part in a Point-in-Time (PIT) count to understand how many homeless people are in shelters and encampments in communities. The pandemic has forced many of those organizations, including the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH), to cancel the PIT count in 2021 to avoid spreading the virus. Katie Vela, executive director of SARAH, says the cancellation protects the staff members and homeless people from COVID-19. She says the PIT count is vital to putting a face to the homeless issue. The PIT count for this year is expected to be released in April.

SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio nonprofit is stepping up to help people who have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic as federal eviction protections come to an end. San Antonio student starts nonprofit to provide clear face masks for deaf, hard of hearing individualsBaker said the nonprofit is helping people who didn’t need assistance in the past. Johnny Herrera said he lost his job in 2019, and he ended up at Haven for Hope. He said the nonprofit helped him find a job, but he lost the job due to the pandemic. Herrera said the nonprofit is helping him find a new job and providing rent assistance.

While working as an executive at Time Warner Cable, Navarra Williams took the time now and then to serve meals as a volunteer at SAMMinistries. SAMMinistries provides programs in homeless prevention services, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, veterans housing stability, and permanent supportive housing. Those donations are in large part due to the publics awareness of SAMMinistries and how individuals can support the organization, Williams said. We were looking at new ways to do things and we had come up with a program called homeless prevention, Williams said. SAMMinistries permanent supportive housing program is the newest project developed with Williams at the helm.