Are you at risk of losing your housing?
Call 650-674-2836 (650-67-HAVEN) between 9am and 5pm on a weekday.
Our volunteers strive to answer immediately or call you back within 4 business hours so that we can proactively help you to stay housed.
Let's prevent at least 25% of all new homelessness in Santa Clara County through rental assistance and free legal help. Havensafe helps people stay in their homes instead of becoming unhoused by connecting tenants with funding and educating community members on eviction rights and financial expertise.
Our Mission
Our mission is to prevent homelessness by connecting at-risk people with resources including eviction support, educating stakeholders like landlords on available services, and fostering stronger connections between organizations to create a more efficient ecosystem of homelessness assistance.
A message from our founder
"I sold my medical device design firm in 2022, took a deep breath, and looked around me. I had been sprinting for a decade, including ensuring all of my employees kept their jobs during the pandemic. When I took a moment to pause, I was struck by the question: How can we can have so much wealth adjacent to communities with no running water, locked doors, or sanitation? After over a year of research, I feel confident that I’ve identified the most cost-effective and humane approach to preventing homelessness in our community."
- Shannon Clark, Founder
3-day eviction notices can occur when a California tenant is unable to make their rental payments. Almost 90% of people who have been evicted were rent-burdened (rent at 30% of their income) or severely rent burdened (rent at >50% of their income). Havensafe offers one-time rental subsidies to prevent homelessness. A combination of individual vulnerabilities, the absence of a safety net, and/or structural factors can drive anyone into homelessness. Lost or reduced income, unexpected cost increases, health issues, and conflicts between household members can drive people out of their homes, among numerous other factors. Many have to leave their homes quickly and are unaware of existing resources to keep them housed.
With over 14 years of experience in leadership and systems design, Shannon has honed a diverse skill set encompassing human resources, financial management, user-centered design, behavioral science, engineering, risk management, training development, marketing, sales, compliance, and people management. A Certified Professional Industrial Engineer, Shannon has authored three books and holds two patents.
Shannon founded a medical device design firm in June 2014. She applied for and secured a $400,000 government grant with the FDA to research the effects of delays between training and actually using a medical device. As part of her role, she contributed to international standards organizations to promote safer medical device designs and authored business processes compliant with federal requirements and international standards.
As CEO between 2018 and 2022, Shannon grew the company from approximately 5 to 30 full-time employees, and uncovered innovative solutions to avoid layoffs during the pandemic. During this time, she implemented compliant procedures in line with federal IRB (i.e. ethics) regulations, established a division dedicated to patient recruitment, and led the development of an in-house ethical review board (i.e. IRB). Her leadership also extended to hiring and managing various personnel and constructing a usability study facility.
After securing major investment by a Private Equity firm in August 2022, Shannon was able to shift her focus towards giving back to the community. She initially got involved by volunteering with CityTeam’s Hope on Wheels, distributing food to individuals living in encampments. She also joined Recovery Cafe as a Cafe Companion, and joined the Board of Directors at Recovery Cafe in May 2024.
She holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Spanish from the University of California, Los Angeles, and studied at Universidad de Las Americas in Puebla, Mexico.
We currently serve Santa Clara County, California
Location
919 The Alameda
San Jose, CA 95126
Note: If you are a new client, call 650-674-2836 and we will get back to you within 4 business hours. We do not offer new client intake in-person.