Our Mission / History - About Us


	Our Mission/History Board of Directors Annual Reports

The Guest House of Milwaukee, Inc. provides shelter, housing, education and services to Milwaukee’s homeless who seek to transform their lives with dignity and purpose.

1981

In response to a growing lack of affordable housing in the city’s core, Central City Churches begins to press for a community solution to the vulnerability of thousands of area homeless


1982	Milwaukee County allows former emergency hospital lobby at 24th and Wisconsin to be used as shelter. Later, churches and the agency, Community Advocates, negotiate for current facility at 1216 N. 13th Street—Guest House is open by year’s end.

1983-87	Early efforts between the Guest House and other community agencies include opening both an overflow facility at a House of Corrections building in Franklin and the city’s first daytime drop-in center for the homeless on Vliet street.

1991	Construction expands the building, allowing all services to be fully operational on site—including education and healthcare support.

1996	Partnership with the Milwaukee County creates the Resident Manager program—where guests are trained to staff group “safe havens” for other people who are homeless and have mental illnesses.

1999	RM Program expands and wins national award as one of the most successful anti-homeless initiatives in US. The Guest House acquires the AODA clinic and it moves from Holton Street to our main facility on North 13th Street.

2000	“Give It Up”—acapella men’s choir formed with nine men. 9/11 attacks dramatically reduce public support and threaten the Guest House’s future.

2006	Guest House regains financial footing and partners with Marquette University to house AODA and clinic services on site, dramatically improving success of guests struggling with addiction. Guest House acquires Open Gate assets when that agency closes.

2007	Public support builds following front page feature in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in late December 2006 declaring the GUEST HOUSE programs “serve as a lesson in how to do what so many people said was nearly impossible.” Over 100 community partners, former guests and staff attend 25th anniversary kick-off event.

2008	Construction begins on the Prairie Apartments, a 24-unit apartment facility on Highland Ave. as a renewed commitment to transitioning the homeless into supportive housing, radically increasing this part of the program—already serving 146 guests beyond the 80 using the shelter each night.