Welcome to Shepherd's Heart Veteran's Home!
Approximately 33% of Pittsburgh's homeless are US Veterans. When Veteran's Administration Chaplain Mike Wurschmidt left the US Air Force to begin his ministry among the poor and broken, he never knew that so many of the homeless in our nation's cities were combat veterans from the Vietnam War. Over the next 22 years, Chaplain Mike and his wife, Tina, have been reaching out to the poor and homeless, including our veterans, in cities across our nation. Since June 1993, they have been in the trenches of Pittsburgh helping the homeless.
Shepherd's Heart Veteran's Home (SHVH) also known as the House of Hope (HoH) is a transitional housing for homeless Veterans. The Veteran's Home is a collaboration between Pittsburgh Veterans Affair's Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV), Comprehensive Homeless Center (CHC) and Shepherd's Heart Fellowship, a parish of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. The collaboration aims to achieve a continuum of care for homeless Veterans. There are approximately 1500 homeless veterans on any given night in Allegheny County. In 2006, Shepherd's Heart Fellowship was awarded a grant from the VA to renovate the second floor of the church and turn it into an " Engagement Center". The program aims to service male veterans who are homeless and may have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse problems, mental illness, dual diagnosis, and those who are disabled. The aim of SHVH is to restore honor and dignity to those who have served our country.
House of Hope provides:
- Outreach to those veterans living on the streets who otherwise would not seek assistance
- 12 long-term sheltered transitional bedrooms, 3 acute care bedrooms, case management, and rehabilitation
- Employment assistance and life skill training
- Supported permanent housing
- Clinical assessment and referral to needed medical treatment for physical and psychiatric disorders, including substance abuse, by partnering with the Homeless Veteran Health Care (HVHC) team
