SOMERVILLE HOMELESS COALITION INCORPORATED
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Mission Statement
The Somerville Homeless Coalition provides homeless and near-homeless individuals and families with individualized supportive services and tailored housing solutions, with a goal of obtaining and maintaining affordable housing.
About This Cause
For 38 years the Somerville Homeless Coalition (SHC) has been providing high impact and high quality services and resources resulting in countless positive outcomes for local residents experiencing homelessness, housing crises and food insecurity. In 1985 SHC was created by our local community's grassroots response to the social crisis of homelessness. Neighbors, community activists, university students, faith-based leaders, business supporters and city officials united to address the burgeoning problem of homelessness within Somerville. These collaborative efforts resulted in the opening of the city's first emergency shelter and the establishment of SHC. Having provided nearly four decades of leadership in addressing homelessness in our area, we now serve a broader-based community beyond Somerville. SHC is now involved in responding to the needs of residents experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity in Arlington and the Greater Boston Area. Our impact continues to expand as we advance our mission through the continuous development of new programs and expansion of other programs. Today, SHC transforms lives by providing services, support, resources and housing to over 7,400 individual men, women, and children each year. In 2023 we were successful in helping 134 people avoid falling into homelessness through our homeless prevention program. At the end of 2022 we opened our very first day drop-in Engagement Center where we supported 789 individuals from January through September, and our Project SOUP food pantry distributed 65,000 nutritionally well-balanced bags of groceries to Somerville residents experiencing food insecurity. Our housing search and case management offerings helped to house 43 adults and 8 children across our Adult Shelter, Permanent Supportive Housing, Outreach, and Coordinated Entry programs. We advance our mission each day through our emergency response initiatives that include Street Outreach to the unsheltered, Adult Homeless Shelter, Emergency Warming Center, Day Drop-In Engagement Center and our Project SOUP Food Program. Other programming is designed to produce sustainable solutions through a combination of services, such as comprehensive housing search and case management; homeless eviction prevention assistance; and, the provision of affordable housing that is paired with ongoing one-on-one home-based stabilization services that promote stability and tenancy preservation. The Adult Shelter, which first opened its doors in 1986, was the City of Somerville’s first emergency shelter and continues to be the only shelter serving both homeless adult men and women in the city; there are a total of 16 beds. Project SOUP operates a food pantry marketplace; home delivery food service for the homebound; provides assistance in applying for SNAP (Food Stamps) benefits; and, serves weekly Community Meals. We have also created our Street Outreach and Day Drop-In Engagement Program to target those most vulnerable, particularly homeless young adults, who are living outside and whose physical and psychological well-being is at the greatest risk. Our Housing Search and Case Management program navigates families and individuals out of homelessness by providing them with a comprehensive set of services, including: housing search, referrals to connect clients to an array of community resources, integral service coordination and advocacy, and housing stabilization support. The Rapid Response Prevention program helps households in danger of losing their housing and diverts families at the “front door” away from emergency systems of care to more stable living situations. Finally, our Supportive Housing program is responsible for transitioning chronically homeless and disabled families and individuals into permanent housing and providing them with life-skill support services. Our goal is to help them improve their quality of life along the road to achieving long-term housing stability. Our Vision is to help people gain access to permanent housing that is safe and affordable; utilize our emergency shelters as a triage, assessment and short-term stabilization resource; utilize our case management services and prevention resources to help people live as independently as possible and minimize the need for costly emergency systems of care; and to build alliances and collaborate with organizations that provide affordable housing. Our Values include treating all people with dignity and respect, always with the understanding that we are part of one community; taking on a leadership role in the community when it comes to advocating for homeless people and those at-risk; and incorporating innovative approaches and best practices in the implementation of our programs and services.