Good Samaritan Services

We provide emergency shelter and transitional program for men in Phoenixville, and women and children in Ephrata; and provide a supportive permanent housing service for families throughout Chester and Lancaster Counties . The goals of the program are:\n\n1. To provide shelter and housing that is appropriate for the level of need, including Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, Long-Term Affordable Housing and sustainable permanent housing\n2. To offer case management to help participants develop and work through their success plan. \n3. Offer financial stability and a multi-faceted Job Training Program with clear steps to help clients find and maintain employment. \n4. To access the multiple resources of the local community and serve as a conduit for the care and generosity of the community.\n 5. To help people develop skills and financial stability to make it possible to successfully return to independent living.

in Chester and Lancaster Counties for over thirty years. We have a dedicated staff with over a century of combined experience in human services. \n\nAn average of our work for the last five years shows that through our program:\n\n• 62% of shelter/transitional residents moved to permanent housing\n\n• Of those, 52% remained living independently 1 year after\n\n•64% of unemployed participants found employment\n\nAdditionally our connection to our community is very strong, as evidenced in our tremendous network of hundreds of volunteers and mentors.\nHousing Services \n* emergency shelter, will house 96 men, women & children\n* transitional housing will host 51 men, women & children\n* long-term affordable housing will host 13 adults\n* permanent housing services will see 70% of all families complete and graduate the program. \n* every dollar invested in a program participant will result in $2,00 increase in income for that participant.

We own eight properties: an emergency shelter, three transitional living houses, and a long-term transitional house in Phoenixville PA; an emergency shelter/transitional living house and long term transitional house in Ephrata, Pa, and work out of offices in four places, Coatesville, Ephrata, Lancaster City, and Phoenixville. We recently formed several partnerships with churches to provide housing and mentoring teams for families in our Permanent Housing Program. \n\nOur staff has a great deal of experience addressing issues of housing and homelessness. And we have hundreds of volunteers who help us in a wide range of ways, sharing expertise, life experience and material assistance to the people we serve.

Since 2016 the board of GSS has been following an ambitious strategic plan to create a permanent housing program. In partial fulfillment of that plan, in December 2017 we merged with Bridge of Hope Chester and Lancaster County to create our own Permanent Housing Service. Since 2017 more than 65 families have been served through the Permanent Housing program, receiving rental assistance and life skills training to help them maintain their independence. \n\nAt the same time, we continue to provide emergency shelter, transitional housing and long term affordable housing to men and women in Chester and Lancaster Counties. \n\nGood Samaritan Services will continue providing all of the same programs and services we always have in our efforts to play a leading role in ending and preventing homelessness in our communities. These include: \n• Emergency Shelter\n• Transitional Housing\n• Affordable Housing\n• Permanent Housing\nIn each case, individuals and families enrolled in the above programs receive comparable services as appropriate. These include: \n• Case Management\n• Rental Assistance\n• Mentoring groups from local congregations\n• GSS Job Training Program\n• Scholarships for education\n• Food and supplies\n• Financial Stability Programs\n o Microloan Program\n o Matched Savings Program\n o Wheels of Hope (car donation program)\n o Emergency cash assistance