Elizabeth Funk is the CEO of DignityMoves, a nonprofit organization she founded in 2020 to apply the high-technology startup model to addressing homelessness. DignityMoves is currently promoting an open-source playbook around their Interim Supportive Housing (ISH) model. Based on modular construction in underutilized sites, DignityMoves manages or is building ISH sites in San Jose, Santa Barbara, Alameda, San Bernardino, Thousand Oaks, and Rohnert Park, in addition to 33 Gough Street in San Francisco.
33 Gough, which opened in 2022, currently provides 70 temporary homes for individuals who have formerly experienced homelessness. It has been hailed for its cost-effectiveness, with a price tag of $34,000 per unit. However, a 2023 San Francisco Chronicle article noted that the city had struggled to establish a similar facility at 16th and Mission streets, with significantly higher costs.
Dignity Moves’ ISH model has been promoted by Mayor Daniel Lurie as an alternative to current shelters in working to reduce the number of people in the city living on the streets. Funk contributed to Mayor Lurie’s “Home Run” plan, a campaign promise to produce 1,500 shelter beds in the first six months of his term. However, in an interview with the San Francisco Standard, Funk noted that achieving a “functional zero” would require 2,500 interim units, which, according to Lurie’s plan, would take two years to complete.
Funk spoke to The Voice on May 23, 2025.
Twenty-three years ago, tiny homes were viewed as a fringe solution. We had a contractor named Jim Reid running as an outsider candidate for mayor, offering up what he called “little houses” as a solution to homelessness. And now, in the online space, you see millennials choosing to live in tiny homes that, for some strange reason, are often placed in the middle of these vacant spaces.
However, what you’re referring to are small villages consisting of multiple homes on half an acre of land, designed to be torn down and relocated elsewhere as needed .…
Right. What you’re talking about is the backyard accessory dwelling unit model, where people can subdivide their lot and add a granny unit or a similar structure. There’s also been a significant push toward manufactured housing in our state. You can buy a tiny house on Amazon. It’s increasingly ubiquitous. What we do is slightly different.
I have yet to meet anyone who prefers a cement pillow.… We just need to rethink what we’re offering.
— Elizabeth Funk
We work with any of those manufacturers, depending on the project’s duration, requirements, and other factors. Then we do something clever, taking advantage of the state’s emergency shelter crisis legislation. If a city declares a shelter crisis, it can waive various non-safety-related review requirements. Then we can create an alternative to the bunk bed in a large warehouse.
For people to be willing to come in out of the streets, they need their own private space, with a door that locks. However, it’s also set up as a community, with shared dining facilities, bathrooms, showers, laundry facilities, and computer labs. It encourages them to come out and interact with others. That’s when services have the best chance of efficacy, because people are no longer in a state of survival mode.
Then you’ll be assigned a case manager who works with you a couple of times a week, helping you determine if you can reunite with your family. Can we assist you with renewing your driver’s license? All the barriers that stand in the way of getting back on their feet. Then it’s an opportunity to assess whether they need more intensive care, which you can’t provide while they’re on the streets. Usually, the average stay is eight months; it’s not intended to be a permanent solution.
After those eight months, where do you see most of these people going?
That depends. Many individuals simply need a shower and help writing a resume, and then they can reenter the mainstream housing market or reunite with family or friends. We find that many people don’t admit to their families that they are on the streets. There’s shame. But once they’re cleaned up and thinking straight, about a third of them can reunite with family or friends, find a roommate, and reenter the traditional market. Another third of them will require more intensive services.
The way it works currently is that when you first become homeless, you get assessed, and you get a vulnerability score. The most vulnerable people are prioritized for housing. The problem with that is that if someone isn’t yet devastated by the behavioral or other effects of living on the street, then they have to wait a long time until they are, right? But by the time folks are finally assigned to one of our rooms, we tend to have a reasonably stable population. And those folks are going to need to go to permanent supportive housing.
But we believe — and this is kind of the core of our model — that if we can do this inexpensively, we can have enough resources for everybody, so that then you’ve the luxury of having enough space for somebody who hasn’t been on the waiting list for a long time. And that’s where I think society has a real benefit, has a real opportunity to preserve that person as a contributing member of society.
What about people who say they prefer the streets to shelters?
I have yet to meet anyone who prefers a cement pillow. They may prefer it to what they’re being offered if it’s a bunk bed in a big warehouse with strangers. I’m not sure I’d go either. We just need to rethink what we’re offering, and the stereotype that these tiny homes are somehow way more expensive.
So what are the costs?
If you take the per unit, you take the project budget cost of a Navigation Center divided by the number of cots, which are half as expensive. Our project in San Francisco was $332,000 per unit. That’s not just the units, but the entire project cost, including landscaping, security, and all associated expenses.
Now, the reason we’re able to do that is that we’re a nonprofit organization, and we receive donations from eighth-grade classes, including items such as bedding and pillows. We also have our architect work at a pro bono or low-bono rate.
Additionally, you utilize modular construction, which isn’t favored by unions.
We use union labor to assemble them. The one we’ve done here in San Francisco, which is one of the manufacturers we use frequently, comes flat-packed, similar to IKEA, with these panels that are then assembled on-site. And yes, we used union labor. We work through Swinerton, our general contractor, who is a signatory to the necessary agreements. They determine which ones are required based on the specific needs.
NEXT MONDAY: Shelter successes, politics, and the regulatory environment.