Building Opportunities For Self Sufficiency

Specialties

BOSS provides shelter, housing, and support services to help homeless families and individuals address urgent health needs, build skills, increase income, and move into permanent affordable housing. We operate a network of drop-​in and residential programs in the cities of Berkeley, Oakland, and Hayward that serves approx. 1,500 people a year.

BOSS programs focus on 4 areas:

Housing: Shelter, transitional housing, permanent housing assistance.

Health: Clinical case management for the disabled, health education, drug/​alcohol recovery support, medications monitoring.

Income: benefits advocacy, money management, job training, job search assistance and placements.

Social Justice: Leadership skill-​building, organizing to fight the root causes of homelessness, social network-​building.

History

Established in 1971.

BOSS was founded in 1971 when mentally ill individuals were released due to statewide hospital closures, and become homeless. Community members came together to provide street outreach and crisis intervention in the then-​named ‘Hillel Streetwork Project. Over the years, homelessness grew to affect large numbers of families, working people, veterans, seniors, people affected by substance abuse, domestic violence survivors, and others. The organization responded by adding new programs and expanding geographically, becoming Building Opportunities for Self-​Sufficiency (BOSS). Today BOSS provides essential ‘safety net’ services to the homeless, poor, and disabled in Alameda County.