When Alpha House opened a second family shelter on the Trinity Health Ann Arbor campus in November 2025, it marked more than a new building. It represented the next chapter in a community-driven model that has supported families experiencing homelessness in Washtenaw County for more than three decades.
A second shelter, built on community partnerships
Alpha House East is operated by IHN at Alpha House and is the organization’s second congregate shelter exclusively for families. Located in a renovated former medical building, the new site expands capacity and offers a different kind of environment for families navigating crisis, recovery and transition.
“IHN Alpha House has a unique story of origin,” said Executive Director Shonagh Taruza. “In 1992, a group of twelve local congregations formed the Interfaith Hospitality Network as a rotating shelter for families experiencing homelessness in Washtenaw County.”
Those congregations took turns hosting families overnight in church buildings, providing meals and shelter. As family homelessness persisted, the program moved into a permanent location in 2001, in a building donated by Trinity Health. Today, the Interfaith Hospitality Network includes 44 faith communities that continue to support Alpha House through funding, volunteerism and nightly home-cooked meals.
“The relationships with the congregations, Trinity Health, and other key partners is what makes us unique and able to do the work we do,” Taruza said.
That network of partnerships made Alpha House East possible. In spring 2025, Trinity Health Ann Arbor offered an underutilized building on its campus for conversion into a family shelter. Funding from local and state government and private foundations supported extensive renovations, allowing the facility to open later that year.
Designed for families—and for different kinds of healing
Alpha House East offers private, apartment-style units for up to 30 families, providing significantly more space and privacy than the organization’s original shelter. The design allows Alpha House to better match families to environments that fit their needs.
“Alpha House West is a smaller and more intimate setting and we have observed that the younger moms do better with more support, company and attention,” Taruza said. “Alpha House East is a larger facility that offers more privacy for those who are on a healing journey, are more independent, or who need more privacy.”
The new shelter also operates without state emergency shelter funding, which gives the organization greater flexibility. “Alpha House East is privately funded which means that we have freedom from the restrictions and mandates of the federal government and treat our residents with dignity and compassion,” Taruza said.
More Than a Bed: Support That Aims for Stability
Services at Alpha House East blend emergency shelter with transitional housing. While many shelters are limited to 120-day stays, Alpha House East allows families to remain longer if needed. “Families can stay a bit longer if needed (a few months rather than a few weeks) without the pressure of having to leave the shelter before they secure housing,” Taruza said.
From the moment families arrive, staff focus on long-term stability. “The primary goal of the services we offer families at IHN Alpha House is to equip and empower our families with the resources they need to move from simply surviving to thriving,” Taruza said.
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Families work with staff on housing plans, employment, budgeting, childcare and transportation. Children continue attending school, with transportation assistance when necessary, and have access to playrooms, tutoring and after-school activities.
Volunteers remain central to the model. More than 2,500 volunteers support Alpha House each year, cooking meals, reading bedtime stories, helping with upkeep and offering mentorship. “It takes a village!” Taruza said.
Meeting a growing—and unequal—need
The need for expanded family shelter is growing. Taruza noted that family homelessness in Washtenaw County disproportionately affects Black and African American families, particularly young, single mothers working low-wage service jobs. “The root cause of family homelessness in Washtenaw County is systemic racism and poverty,” she said.
Recent years have brought rising demand. Limited capacity once meant turning families away or placing them on long waiting lists. In response, Alpha House launched a Winter Weather Amnesty program during the winter of 2024–25, using hotel vouchers and emergency accommodations to shelter 47 families who otherwise would have been left without options.
What success looks like after Alpha House East
Looking ahead, Alpha House East is also building deeper partnerships with Trinity Health, including plans for a workforce development pipeline that could help residents move from shelter into employment within the health system.
For Taruza, success is straightforward. “A successful transition would look like a family finding sustainable employment, childcare, and then moving out into their own home,” she said.
As Alpha House East begins its first full year of operation, it stands as both a response to a growing crisis and a reflection of what long-term community collaboration can make possible.
