This Women’s History Month, PATH would like to recognize the great value women bring to the housing, homeless and social services sectors.
As a statewide organization, 63% of our employees identify as women, so we certainly couldn’t do this work without them.
Our team members are essential workers, and since the beginning of the pandemic, most of them have worked in-person, often with those most vulnerable in the community.
We’d like to highlight two amazing women on PATH Santa Barbara’s team: Katherine Soto-Vasquez, associate director of housing programs, and Shannon Brunner, director of programs.
Katherine was born and raised in Santa Barbara and studied sociology with an emphasis in law and society at Cal State LA.
She intended to work as a police officer,and knew that a career in law enforcement would involve interacting with unhoused individuals, so she sought out an opportunity at PATH.
In her six years with PATH, she has held various roles, such as case manager and community navigator, where she witnessed first hand just how challenging the system can be and how non-profits play a role in the solution. This experience ultimately led Katherine to earn her MBA from Antioch Santa Barbara.
Katherine was instrumental in helping PATH implement the Coordinated Entry System (CES) in Santa Barbara County – the process through which people experiencing homelessness are assessed and prioritized for specific housing interventions.
As a case manager, her studies came full circle when she was assigned to support the Santa Barbara Police Department in Restorative Court, where she helped individuals find treatment and housing instead of incarceration for offenses related to their homelessness.
When the pandemic hit, Santa Barbara County was one of the communities throughout California to participate in Project Roomkey – the state’s effort to protect people experiencing homelessness from COVID-19 through the short-term use of hotels and motels as interim housing.
Katherine was contracted to work with the county to manage the hotel site dedicated to medically vulnerable homeless seniors. She worked with a team that helped serve over 170 individuals at highest risk with a 56% housing rate.
For Katherine, Project Roomkey was proof of what can be accomplished when the community comes together to support our unhoused neighbors.
Shannon, a Pittsburgh native, moved to Santa Barbara from Florida after working in the field of developmental disabilities for 26 years. Shannon studied English at Point Park University, and received her master’s in non-profit administration from Louisiana State University.
Her experience includes case management supervision, managed care, quality assurance, and managing residential and day program facilities.
In May of 2019, when Shannon accepted a job here for a behavioral health provider, her employer questioned if she could actually find housing in the area. She was lucky enough to quickly find housing, but the rarity of that became even more apparent later on.
Shannon started her employment with PATH in January 2021 as the associate director of permanent supportive housing, helping participants find housing, participants like Michael, who filled out 25 rental applications before he found a place to call his own.
Shannon helped launch Santa Barbara’s first Scattered Site Permanent Supportive Housing program, which offers long-term rental assistance and supportive services.
She said despite having the financial support needed to secure housing, many participants are turned down.
From large property management companies to mom-and-pop property owners, she often hears questions like, “Do they do drugs? Drink? Are they mentally ill? What medications are they on?”
These questions are not only illegal to ask, they also fuel a stigma that is hard to shake when participants exit homelessness.
While dealing with this stigma is certainly one of the challenges of this work, one of the major rewards is knowing the positive impact that comes with helping someone make it home.
The first participant Shannon helped secure housing had experienced homelessness for over 10 years, and had been battling terminal cancer.
Through determination and a lot of applications, she helped him secure housing where he lived out the remaining months of his life in comfort. They stayed in touch until his passing, and she still has the last voicemail he left her saved on her phone.
These are just some of the stories and some of the people that make PATH the organization that it is. While it can feel like homelessness is only getting worse, there are programs that work, there are resources that are being put to good use, and there are people assisting the homeless.