GET INVOLVED

VOLUNTEER

Thank you LutheranHANDS for building and providing the handmade fence and raised garden beds for our Garden Project. The residents of Pop’s House will be able to grow their own fresh food.

LutheranHANDS has already started the project, but we are still in need of seeds, soil, fertilizer, shovels, gardening tools, rakes and gloves.

We also seek Volunteers to help start and maintain the garden beds, because some of the residents of Pop’s House have physical limitations.

Please contact us at (917) 689-2543 or

shelby@popshouse.org if you would
like to help.

Garden Project

The partnership between Pop’s House, Inc., PSV Properties, LLC and SOS Home Advantage, LLC empowers veterans and ex-offenders to become self-sufficient to secure supportive and permanent housing through residential properties managed by the partnership and other support services needed to experience a positive reentry back into the community after facing or experiencing homelessness.

There were an estimated 47,725 Veterans experiencing homelessness on our streets and in our shelters on a single night in January 2015, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Veterans and non-Veterans experience homelessness due to economic and personal hardships and a shortage of affordable housing. However, exposure to combat and repeated deployments may also contribute to veteran homelessness. Veterans have high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and sexual trauma that make it difficult for them to build trust or control impulses, or other effects that challenge their ability to find employment and build stable relationships. Multiple and extended deployments may also contribute to unemployment and family conflict that can lead to isolation and homelessness.

The U.S. has the most incarcerated people of any nation in the world. 95% of those people will eventually be released from prisons and jails. With criminal justice reform on the horizon, the number relased each year will be greater than in the past. After release, the formerly incarcerated tend to have limited or low income and/or no support system, and, often due to their criminal history, lack the ability to obtain housing through the channels that are open to other low-income people. As a result, one in five people who leave prison become homeless soon thereafter, if not immediately.

Statistics show that having a safe and stable environment reduces recidivism and homelessness. Pop's House provides a path for its clients to re-enter society with their heads held high, but to continue in our efforts we need your help.

Pop's House needs space in New York City and Pennsylvania (commercial and residential properties) to provide housing. In-kind space is preferred to reduce the cost of overhead and administrative expense so funds can be spent on direct services to the clients. Please contact us if you have space to donate.

Work With Us

ATTENTION EMPLOYERS:

Pop's House is requesting employers who will consider hiring an ex-offender or veteran.

Re-Entry Program
Sponsorship

We are recruiting $2,500 sponsors to cover one client for a 4-month period. Smaller sponsorships in increments of $625 will cover one client for one of the four months. Clients will be required to work or enroll in the Job Readiness class, Computer Literacy class and Financial Literacy class to start saving funds.

The following expenses are anticipated:

$2,500 per client will cover living expenses, including rent, food, transportation costs, and basic needs such as grooming supplies and clothing for four months. Of the $2,500 sponsorship for each client, a portion will be used to start a savings account that the client will not have access to during his stay. Instead, it will be used to help absorb some of his moving costs. If the client is not financially secure to move into his own apartment at the end of the three phases, then he will be granted 30-day extensions.

The Vera Institute of Justice released a study in 2012 that the average taxpayer’s cost to house an inmate is $31,286 per year. New York State is the most expensive, with an average cost of $60,000 per prison inmate annually. The cost of incarcerating people in New York City's jails is nearly three times as much. New York City paid $167,731 to feed, house and guard each inmate in 2013, according to a study of the Independent Budget Office. Pop’s House can house over 20 clients with the money the City pays to feed, house and guard one inmate.

Pennsylvania Department of Corrections statistics indicate that it costs over $30,000 per year to house one inmate. For the same amount of money, Pop’s House can help 5 veterans or former inmates become self-sufficient. Currently, the annual cost to house 6 clients is approximately $40,000.

Pop’s House has almost reached full capacity in its housing facilities and is in need of additional space.

GIVE A DONATION