Any walk around downtown San Francisco makes it abundantly clear City Hall can’t solve the homeless crisis on its own. So it’s reaching out to a seemingly unlikely pool of people for help: regular city residents with spare rooms and big hearts.

In partnership with the SF LGBT Center, the city is seeking hosts for homeless LGBT youth, which represent a sizable chunk of its homeless population. The program is called Host Homes, and it relies entirely on compassionate San Franciscans who are willing to do far more than most of us would to tackle the city’s street misery.

Many of us give spare change to people on the sidewalks. We volunteer. We write checks or donate turkeys over the holidays. But house a homeless person? That’s a whole other level.

But it’s increasingly becoming a small part of cities’ solutions to addressing the homeless crisis — with varying levels of success. Host Homes exists in 10 other cities including Seattle, San Jose and Los Angeles. It’s unclear how many matches have been made in those cities.

Here in San Francisco, the anti-poverty nonprofit Tipping Point Community announced in July that it aimed to secure 1,100 new units of housing for homeless people, including in privately owned vacant units, within two years. The initiative, dubbed “All In,” has yet to move any homeless person inside.

In Oakland, Mayor Libby Schaaf two years ago called for city residents to take in homeless people through a program run by the nonprofit Bay Area Community Services. The nonprofit didn’t immediately return a call about how many people it housed. Schaaf got a little pushback at the time for saying she didn’t have room to take in a homeless person herself, but she’s still an avid supporter of the concept.

“Every new unit is essential during this crisis, and opening your doors to a formerly homeless resident is an act of compassion that ripples through the entire neighborhood,” she said in a statement. “I promoted the program here because I know so many Oaklanders who want to help others and address the crisis first-hand.”

One well-heeled Piedmont man made headlines when he took in a homeless Oakland couple, whose presence in the tony neighborhood prompted numerous calls to police from neighbors.

Host Homes in San Francisco has several people who have applied to be a host and are in the screening process. It was made possible through the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing winning a federal grant to launch the program, which helped pay for staff and assistance for youth.

The SF LGBT Center is administering it and aims to house 10 to 15 young people in the city for 3-12 months at a time. Through a strong screening process, the program aims to match hosts and youth who share similar values, interests and lifestyles. Youths will receive case management and stipends for groceries, transportation and other necessities. Cash assistance will be available to those hosts who need it.

Roberto Ordeñana, deputy executive director of the center, said the city continues to be a beacon for those fleeing unsupportive families around the country, but the exorbitant cost of housing often means newcomers are living on the streets.

More Information Are you interested in hosting a homeless LGBT youth? Attend an informational session Dec. 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the Main Library, 100 Larkin St. Register for the session and learn more about the program at sfcenter.org/host-homes/.

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“They come to San Francisco without employment lined up, without housing lined up, without a network of support lined up,” he said.

The numbers bear that out. On one night in January, the city counted 8,035 homeless people — a spike of 17% in just two years. Eighteen percent were aged 18-24, and 27% identified as LGBT. It’s those who fall in both groups that are the target for Host Homes.

Heather Saunders Estes, 66, who recently retired as the CEO of Planned Parenthood Northern California, took in a homeless transgender youth — and she and her family say they’re better for it.

She and her daughter, Laurel Estes, 26, and their friend and former roommate, Valerie Jade, 22, chatted the other day about their unusual set-up over cheese and crackers in Estes’ Golden Gate Heights home with a stunning view of Sutro Tower.

The relationship started two years ago when Laurel Estes met Jade through a dance class. They quickly hit it off, and Jade opened up to her new friend about her personal struggles.

She’d grown up in Benicia with her mom, but they didn’t get along very well. Her mom is religious and didn’t support Jade when she came out as transgender. High school was a miserable experience for Jade so she took a proficiency exam to earn her diploma rather than stick it out — which sparked more arguments with her mom.

Jade moved out at age 17, beginning what she calls “the couch agenda,” crashing with various friends and family, but lacking a permanent place to call home. A longtime struggle with depression made it hard for her to hold down a job.

After seeing her friend sink to emotional lows, Laurel Estes asked her mom if they could take her in. Her mom said yes. It started informally at first, but then they made it official.

“At some point, we actually sat down and did a written plan,” Heather Estes said.

It wasn’t always easy.

“There was a lot of ‘Clean up your dishes!’ in the beginning,” Jade said with a laugh. “But it got better.”

“Well, you cleaned up your dishes more!’” Heather Estes teased back.

Jade said a stable home and friends who felt like family made all the difference.

“While I was living here, I got a huge amount of support,” she said. “It gave me safe opportunities to try things so if I failed, there was something to fall back to.”

After about a year living at the Estes house, Jade moved into an in-law unit on Ocean Avenue and enrolled in City College, taking classes in math, her favorite subject. The city gave her $5,000 to pay for first month’s rent and the security deposit. She’s on food stamps and cash aid, which covers her living expenses.

Heather Estes said she’s delighted with the results of the somewhat unusual agreement.

“I’m happy we were able to make a difference in her life to feel more accepted and be safer and help her onto the next step of who she wants to be,” she said.

Her daughter, Laurel Estes, agreed that hosting made her own life better.

“It makes you a better person. Not because you did it, but because of the things you learn in the process,” she said, adding it’s one way to cope with the city’s huge wealth divide. “I feel like I’ve walked into a medieval painting with gilded carriages passing by people living on the street. This is a chance to heal those gaps.”

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Sundays and Tuesdays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf