A Brief History

Shared Housing Services is an independent, nonprofit 50l(C)3 social service agency working cooperatively with other community agencies to ensure basic needs of low-income community members are met.

SHS originated out of expressed needs of a senior member of Immanuel Presbyterian Church for someone to live in her home. She was falling occasionally (early stages of Parkinson's disease) and needed the security of having someone in the home. The first office space was in the IPC office building. SHS began providing services on October 1, 1991 to Tacoma/Pierce County residents from this location.

Homesharing reduces and prevents homelessness by providing a viable, affordable housing option for low- and very low-income individuals and families in transition, and disabled persons in their own homes. SHS does this by meeting homeowners' need for companionship, home-making services (cooking, errands, housework, yard work), personal care, childcare, or additional Income.

Living expenses are reduced for one or both parties by homesharing. More costly housing or institutional care is avoided for disabled and elderly individuals. Maximum use of existing housing and preservation of neighborhoods are fostered. Over years of attempting to assist homeless families to find homeshare situations, it became obvious that for families seeking housing who had two or more children homesharing was not a viable option. Homes were not large enough to accommodate these families and most of these families were experiencing serious financial problems that needed to be addressed.

To meet the needs of larger, very low-income families and move them to financial self sufficiency, SHS obtained property on the corner of South 11th and I Streets in December, 1999. The buildings (2 apartment buildings, 2 small cottages, and a defunct service station/garage) were boarded up by the City of Tacoma for code violations and required extensive renovation to bring them up to code. To-date, six of the ten potential living units have been readied and are occupied. The blue four-plex is under renovation and should be ready for families in the near future.