Mission: The House of Dreams is a temporary housing program serving homeless women. Our mission is to provide homeless, single women in Cobb County with the opportunity and support they need to change their lives and become self-reliant. Our operating philosophy follows the adage “give a man to fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for the rest of his life.” We believe that by addressing the factors that cause homelessness, we can change lives “one person at a time”. The HOD operates as part of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and we have been in operation for over 20 years. Our primary objectives are:
1) To first provide temporary basic needs (food, shelter, safe environment, etc.) for single, homeless women who demonstrate genuine commitment to changing their lives. Our ability to provide these most basic human needs represents an essential “first step”, which then enables our HOD volunteers to pursue our second key objective.
2) To help women who enter the program to develop the life skills (and self-confidence) necessary to re-enter the workforce and become self-reliant again in a sustainable way.
The House of Dreams operates one apartment located in Smyrna. We can house up to 4 ladies at a time, and we have a team of committed volunteers who to serve in a variety of roles, such as Mentors, Apartment Inspectors, Financial counselors, etc. Each homeless woman who enters the program is assigned a Mentor, who provides “one on one” advice, counsel and support.