Mission
Nicholas House’s mission is to help families experiencing homelessness become self-sufficient by providing them with stable housing while addressing the root causes of their homelessness so that they never become homeless again.
Vision
Collaborating with other agencies and members of the community, our vision is to make it unlikely that a family will ever experience homelessness in Atlanta. But until that happens, when families do lose their home, we ensure that their time living in a car or on the streets will be very brief and that they will be given tools and assistance so that they are not at risk of losing their home again.
Values
Nicholas House provides services based in commitment, integrity and operational excellence. We pride ourselves on professionalism and clear communication from all staff members. We also seek to continually identify new avenues for growth and learning with staff, volunteers and clients and work to ensure best practices in all of our programs.
What makes Nicholas House different?
Nicholas House has three unique features that differentiate it from other homeless service providers:
- Our programs keep homeless families together regardless of composition. Nicholas House has always only served families – and we have always served families no matter the composition or size of the family. Single parent, two-parent, grandparents, siblings… any family is welcome at Nicholas House!
- Our programs are accountability-based. Clients entering Nicholas House programs set unique goals with their case managers and meet regularly with their case managers to measure progress toward their goals. Continued participation in programs is determined by clients’ effort toward goals.
- We are outcome-oriented. We don’t just want to provide homeless families with temporary food and shelter, we want them to be self-sufficient for the rest of their lives. We follow families for up to two years after graduation from Nicholas House programs to ensure they have the support they need to keep reaching their goals.
Our Impact
Nicholas House has served over 13,000 homeless family members since its founding in 1982. In our last fiscal year, we served over 450 people through our programs:
- 97% of residents moved into a permanent home after leaving our Boulevard Shelter
- We provided an average of $2,000 in rental assistance to each family in our Housing Stability program
- 168 people avoided eviction thanks to our services!
Nicholas House is more than just a shelter! Learn more about all our programs on our programs page.