1990: Davis Community Meals and Housing (DCMH) opened its doors, serving a free weekly meal to people in and around Davis who were homeless or without financial resources.
1990-1993: Realizing the need for greater services, a DCMH board committee and other interested individuals began exploring opportunities. A post office box was donated by a local businessperson for use by individuals and families without an address. Local self-service laundries provided free or reduced cost services as well.
January 1993: DCMH was operating an Emergency Winter Shelter for homeless individuals and families in a city-owned house. The Meals Program expanded to include a second free meal each week.
November 1993: A Resource Center opened to complement the Emergency Winter Shelter. Here homeless and at-risk individuals and families could access referrals to local services and receive assistance in finding housing.
1995: With the help of many community residents and the financial support of the city, a triplex at 1111 H Street was acquired and renovated as a permanent site for the Shelter and Resource Center, enabling DCMH to provide more stability and continuity. A year-round Transitional Housing Program was added. Fourteen of the sixteen beds were made available to house single adults for as long as eighteen months, and two beds were reserved for temporary emergency shelter.
2005: DCMH entered into a partnership in an affordable housing development with Neighborhood Partners and the Yolo County Housing Authority to create Cesar Chavez Plaza, a new 53-unit single bedroom apartment complex. Nineteen units are set aside for individuals or families facing homelessness or at-risk of becoming homeless due to mental illness, physical disabilities, or chronic substance abuse issues. These units are rented at rates that are affordable to those with minimal or fixed incomes.
January 2006: Partnering with the City of Davis, we opened the Emergency Winter Shelter at 512 Fifth Street in Davis, housing 10 adults: eight men and two women. During the warmer months, this second shelter was used to house a single homeless family.
2006: The Meals Program expanded to include a third free meal each week through collaboration between DCMH and the UC Davis student group, HELP (Help and Education Leading to Prevention).
2015: DCMH began a street outreach program to provide outreach, services and referrals to those individuals and families who were difficult to serve or who did not traditionally seek out services.
November 2015: DCMH along with its partners, Neighborhood Partners, and the John Stewart Company, were awarded the right to construct Creekside Permanent Supportive Housing, 90 units of permanent supportive housing with units set aside for chronically homeless individuals with special needs. The project is modeled after the success of our existing Cesar Chavez Plaza complex.
December 2015: DCMH began coordinating services and providing staffing to the Interfaith Rotating Winter Shelter of Davis.
June 2019: Announcement of Sutter Health $2.5 million in matching funds to build Paul’s Place, a four-story multi-use structure with a resource center, 10 transitional housing micro-units, and 18 individual 300-square-foot units of permanent supportive housing.
May 2020: Residents began moving into 80 one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom units at Creekside. A total of 26 homeless men, women and children moved in during the initial rent up period.
February 2023: Paul’s Place grand opening celebration.