SHELTER HOUSE INC
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Mission Statement
Our mission is to prevent and end homelessness and domestic violence by engaging the community, building effective relationships and providing crisis intervention, safe housing and supportive services.
About This Cause
Shelter House, Inc. is a community-based, non-profit organization that provides crisis intervention, safe housing, and supportive services to homeless families and victims of domestic violence in our community. Our organization was formed in 1981, as a grassroots responder to the homelessness crisis in Fairfax County. Community volunteers from several ecumenical groups joined together to help address the needs of their homeless neighbors. They started by providing direct emergency assistance – items such as blankets, food, and warm clothing were distributed from the trunks of their cars. The tragic hypothermia death of a homeless man on Christmas day in 1983 in the Bailey’s Crossroads area galvanized the community to do more. Churches opened winter shelters, and Shelter House volunteers and other advocated to Fairfax County Government to devote more public resources to the homeless. As a result of this advocacy, Shelter House secured a County contract in 1985 to open one of the first charter shelters in Fairfax County. Since then, Shelter House has continued to grow as an organization in order to accommodate the growing needs in our community and currently runs and operates four of the County's shelters: ❑ Patrick Henry Family Shelter (PHFS) - The Patrick Henry Family Shelter is Shelter House's charter program, operated by the organization under contract with Fairfax County since 1985. This apartment-style shelter in Falls Church serves 9 large homeless families (those with 5+ members) at a time. ❑ Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter (KHFS) - The Katherine Hanley Family Shelter opened in 2007 and was the first emergency shelter in Fairfax County to adopt a rapid re-housing approach – an approach that was so successful it has since been incorporated into all emergency shelters in Fairfax County. This program has capacity to serve 24 families at a time. ❑ Artemis House (AH) - Artemis House is Fairfax County's only 24-hour emergency shelter serving victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, and human trafficking. In February of 2019 Artemis House expanded to include a second 24-hour location which increased access for victims in the southern region of Fairfax County and increased bed space. Today, Artemis House is an 84-bed program which helps survivors (households with and without children) to safely flee and stabilize after their traumatic experiences before transitioning to safe housing away from their abusers. All emergency shelter programs utilize a Rapid Re-housing approach, which is the provision of housing location support, rental assistance, and intensive case management services to help those experiencing homelessness return to housing as quickly as possible.