About Us
Housing
Resources
Resources
We provide a 72 bed facility to support men, women, and families in crisis. Heart House also provides nutritious and consistent meals, through the Freestore Foodbank and partners in our community.
Resources
Resources
Resources
Heart House provides personal redevelopment programs that assist and equip residents in developing life skills, needed for successful independent living.
Community
Resources
Community
We create community and provide a family atmosphere!
Our History
Heart House Inc. began as an effort of the Dearborn County Ministerial Association, the local Mental Health Association, and a few dedicated citizens who wanted to address the housing insecure population in the community. A 501c3, not-for-profit was incorporated in February of 1998 and the vision of an emergency shelter and affordable housing programs began to take shape as the board worked to pursue funding sources.
A Housing Director was hired in March 1999, and Heart House worked to educate the community, advocate for marginalized populations, and focused on grant applications to achieve board directed goals. During this extensive process, a capital grant was secured from the Indiana Housing Finance Authority to build a 50 bed shelter serving Dearborn, Ripley, Franklin, Ohio and Switzerland counties. In March 2002, a 60-bed shelter was opened to serve the Southeastern Indiana area.
The next phase of Heart House Inc. growth came in the mid-2000s, when the organization purchased 41 apartment units spanning 3 different communities to provide affordable housing for low-income residents with help from HUD and IHCDA. Heart House now manages and operates these properties, as well as a storage facility, to further our goals of sustainability and provide no cost service to residents that qualify.
As Heart House Inc. has welcomed in a new Executive Director, we have now increased shelter space to approximately 80 beds, and provides comprehensive case management services, linking marginalized populations with peer recovery support, mental health services, parenting education, youth advocacy services, nutritional education, financial resources and programming, employment assistance, transportation assistance and housing stability programs. We believe in a holistic approach to solve the many barriers and challenges of those we serve.
To date, Heart House Inc. has served approximately 2500 people with many stories of success and hope which inspires our continual advocacy and important work.