Haven For Hope - Transforming and Saving Lives

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Haven for Hope's mission is to transform and save lives of the homeless.
Our purpose is to provide homeless individuals and families with the training, skills and assistance needed to help them become self-sufficient.

In 2006, San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger and civic leader Bill Greehey met to discuss the serious and growing problem of homelessness in Bexar County. Mayor Hardberger then established the Community Council to End Homelessness, naming Greehey as Chairman of the effort and the then District 5 City Councilwoman Pattie Radle as Co-Chair. Greehey, Radle and the rest of the council, which was composed of community and business leaders, were charged with developing a plan to reduce homelessness in San Antonio. The group conducted extensive research on homelessness as well as visited and studied many successful homeless assistant centers and campuses around the country.

Treating the root causes of homelessness with a wide array of social services in a single and central location resulted in a 60% success rate (defined as a year of totally self-sufficient living). Campuses in San Diego, Miami, Phoenix and St. Louis were among some of the operations reviewed and analyzed to develop a set of operational best practices. Critical campus services include education, job training, day care, substance abuse treatment, medical care, identification recovery, case management, animal care services, hygiene, etc.

A single facility hosting all of the key service providers in a campus-style environment is more effective than having services spread throughout the community and operating independently. It is imperative that the facility be managed by an independent board, free of political influence and red tape.

At the recommendation of the Community Council to End Homelessness and through the leadership of Bill Greehey, Haven for Hope of Bexar County was formed as a 501(c)3 in November 2006. Bill Greehey was selected as Founding Chairman and Patti Radle was selected as Vice-Chairwomen. In December 2006 the Haven for Hope Board hired Dr. Robert Marbut Jr. as the President/CEO.

Combining the national best practices found at over 150 facilities throughout the USA, we set a vision for Haven for Hope to provide a wide range of social services in order to meet the needs of San Antonio’s homeless community in a “single-multiservice-campus” setting. Far beyond shelter, food and clothing, Haven for Hope’s services are designed to address the root causes of homelessness, with over 70 Partner agencies providing a wide-array of critical services. For more information on our Partners and their services, please refer to the Campus Services page.

The Campus has already helped transform and save lives in Bexar County. The centralized and integrated Campus has created a much more effective and efficient way to help homeless families and individuals. Effective treatment reduces the number of homeless individuals in the criminal justice and public medical systems.