Our Safehouse Is Full

Dear friends,

I am reaching out to ask for your help. With the need for safehousing at an all-time high in Arlington, we need our community’s support to keep up with survivors’ needs. Although we doubled the capacity of our Safehouse this past year from 11 beds to 22, it is already not enough.

This past week, our headcount of survivors in our safehousing reached 40 individuals across our shelter, scattered sites, and hotel placements. This represents an occupancy rate of 160% relative to what our County contract supports. At the same time, our hotline continues to receive new requests for shelter, reflecting the sustained urgency of need in the community. 

When our Safehouse is full, we must shelter survivors in imminent danger elsewhere, usually hotels, at our expense. As Arlington’s only safehousing provider, Doorways is charged with sheltering every survivor in imminent danger in our community. We do not turn survivors away when our shelter is full, and we do not have a waitlist, because survivors cannot wait. But this is only possible with your support. 

We need your help to sustain our lifesaving shelter and services. Every survivor deserves to get the best care and services from us. Please donate funds, urgently needed items, and consider sponsoring our upcoming Open Hearts, Open Doors event to ensure we can continue to shelter every survivor who needs us. 

Many thanks, muchas gracias, 

Diana Ortiz, M.Ed., LPC, President and CEO