Shelter House

Shelter House's 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. The agency enacts its mission through the following approaches: (1) homelessness prevention & diversion services: Shelter House provides prevention and diversion services to households experiencing at risk of homelessness in fairfax county. The crisis intervention and supportive services provided help households to avoid entering Shelter and to stabilize in housing. (2) emergency Shelter & rapid re-housing services: Shelter House operates 2 family shelters in fairfax county, as well as fairfax county's only 24-hour emergency Shelter program serving victims of domestic and sexual violence, stalking, and human trafficking. From april 2020 to march 2022, Shelter House partnered wtih fairfax county government to operate the county's first quarantine, protection, isolation, and decompression Shelter in response to the covid-19 pandemic. In loudoun county, Shelter House operates the only 24-hour emergency Shelter for households with and without children, which includes winter hypothermia Shelter and a day drop-in program for unsheltered single individuals. The agency provides rapid re-housing services for each Shelter location, which includes case management, housing location, and rental assistance to help households end their homelessness as quickly as possible and return to permanent housing. (3) domestic violence & supportive housing: Shelter House provides housing solutions for victims of domestic violence at any point in their decision to flee. In addition to emergency Shelter, Shelter House provides prevention services which help victims to safely relocate before their situation escalates, and rapid re-housing services for victims who have fled to emergency Shelter and are in need of support to stabilize in housing independent of their abusive partner. (4) permanent supportive & affordable housing programs: Shelter House provides permanent supportive housing to families with an extensive history of homelessness and documented disabilities that prohibit their ability to work and live independently without support. The agency also provides affordable housing utilizing units that the agency owns to create the opportunity for homeless families and victims of domestic violence to end their homelessness. In fiscal year 2022, across all programs, Shelter House served 991 households comprise of 2,220 individuals.