House of Hope strives for day it closes shelter

Kelcy Dolan
Posted 2/24/15

This past Thursday, instead of meeting at their usual place, Chelo’s, the Warwick Rotary Club ate a catered lunch in the basement of the all-men’s shelter, Harrington Hall in Cranston.

After …

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House of Hope strives for day it closes shelter

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This past Thursday, instead of meeting at their usual place, Chelo’s, the Warwick Rotary Club ate a catered lunch in the basement of the all-men’s shelter, Harrington Hall in Cranston.

After everyone was full and content, Jean Johnson, the executive director for the House of Hope, a Community Development Corporation (CDC), talked about the men just one floor above who didn’t have the benefit of catered lunches and a warm home to return to.

Although the story of Harrington Hall was an emotional one and some Rotary members shed a few tears, Johnson’s speech ended on a hopeful note.

Since 2009 when the House of Hope took over the management of Harrington Hall, they have been working diligently to change the reputation of what was once an “overflow” shelter of last resort that many homeless avoided.

“We never make anything easy for ourselves so we decided to take on Harrington Hall,” Johnson said. “No one even wanted to be here. We opened the doors wide so people could see what a deplorable place it was, so they could see that people didn’t deserve that. It wasn’t doing anything to help people out of homelessness.”

Six years later Harrington Hall has seen a major turnaround and Johnson believes the House of Hope is starting to see the “fruits of their labor.”

She said, “We aren’t trying to make a better shelter. We are working to make it a rapid re-housing and assessment center. We want to see Harrington Hall go out of business.”

House of Hope is still working hard on getting the men the resources and services they need to help solve the issues that led to them being homeless in the first place.

Harrington Hall now has several day programs including AA meetings, literacy classes, support groups, visiting psychiatrists and social workers among various other services.

The House of Hope is looking to renovate the bottom floor of Harrington Hall to create a laundry room, classrooms, new bathrooms as well as a teaching kitchen. The hopes for the teaching kitchen would be to help the men of Harrington Hall gain occupational training, but also an employment opportunity. Similarly, House of Hope is working on starting a gardening initiative around the shelter for not only employment opportunity, but also as a method of therapy.

“We are here to empower these men, to help them take control of their lives again. We have helped people to a lot of happy endings and there are going to continue to be happy endings.” Johnson said.

She said a lot of the changing perceptions surrounding Harrington Hall is House of Hope’s dedication to the men who stay there.

She said that no one is ever turned away from the shelter and the men are given a chance to voice their concerns and have input.

“This is where they live; we respect them; we let them have some say and control. They have to be a part of the process if we are ever going to help them find something better.”

With storm after storm hitting Rhode Island, Harrington Hall, normally open only from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m., has been open around the clock for more than three weeks to give these men somewhere to escape the cold.

Johnson said the decision to stay open was an easy one when staying outdoors in this weather can be so dangerous.

“The men staying here the past few weeks have become like a new staff. They have been shoveling, cooking and cleaning for everyone else. These are terrific people who find themselves to be homeless.”

Harrington Hall houses more than 100 men a night. So far this year their record is 145.

The House of Hope has already helped 53 men who were previously staying at Harrington Hall find affordable housing this year.

This comes just after the homelessness statistics were released last week, where it was reported that there was a decrease of 8.5 percent in the homeless population. Rhode Island also received the letter grade of a ‘B’ for the past year concerning progress on Opening Doors RI initiative to end homelessness in the state.

Johnson said, “We may have less homeless in the state, but we have more men coming here than ever before. Part of that is the weather, but the other part is they know we are getting people to move on past the shelter system. They come here because they want help.”

Johnson says the answer to ending homelessness is to invest in affordable housing, and she is more hopeful for the future than ever. She said with the newly elected legislators and general officers there is a renewed dedication to ending chronic homelessness throughout Rhode Island.

“We know how to end homelessness and we can do it. We have a new government that is on board and wants to see this happen,” she said.

One day Johnson hopes Harrington Hall can become nothing more than a conference space.

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