Columbia Women's Shelter

3425 North Main Street
Columbia, SC 29203

803-779-4706 Visit Website
Class of Housing/Services: Provides shelter and many services for women.

General Information:
Our Programs Primary Housing The Primary shelter offers temporary housing for a maximum of 11 women. In addition to housing the program provides comprehensive services that include food, clothing, transportation, counseling, educational programs and dental health services. Residents are interviewed to determine their readiness for this structured program. Once a woman is accepted her primary focus is to obtain a job that allows her to work at least 25 hours each week while meeting a 5:00pm curfew. Residents enjoy dinner together as a family and attend nightly programs. While participating in this twelve week program, residents are required to deposit the majority of their wages into a savings account. Residents begin to develop a positive routine while saving money and addressing the issues that led them to this program. Successful participation in this program allows a woman to progress into our Transitional Housing Program. Transitional Housing The Transitional Housing Program began in 1986 with the rental of one foreclosed HUD home. Today, The Women’s Shelter Transitional program owns 17 fully furnished housing units all located within six blocks of the primary shelter. This program provides women gradual "re-entry" into the community as totally self-sufficient members. In this program residents still attend regular meetings while working with the Transitional Housing Director to begin addressing additional issues. Residents may participate in this program for up to two years while they work to repair their credit, rebuild relationships with their children and family, acquire a GED and other educational goals, and obtain stable careers. Our newest undertaking is assisting former residents with home ownership opportunities. To date we have sold three houses to former residents.   Dental Services The Dental Clinic facility was developed in 1989. It wasn’t until 1999, with a large grant from HUD and a collaborative partnership with another non-profit, that the clinic was able to provide a full-time, paid staff offering comprehensive dental care. Over the past 9 years we have seen over 4,000 individuals, pulled over 8,000 teeth, and made over 500 sets of dentures with a total of over 44,000 procedures. This valuable program brought smiles and self esteem back to many deserving adults. In April of 2008, another phase of our dental center began. Our collaborative partner of many years, the Columbia Oral Health Clinic, became the sole manager of the Dental Clinic. They will remain, ministering to specialized populations and will also assist the residents of The Women’s Shelter with their dental needs.   On-Site Counseling The Women’s Shelter provides comprehensive programs as a means for residents to obtain the life skills and educational tools necessary to become a healthy, productive member of the community. These programs include group therapy, relapse prevention, parenting classes, assertiveness training, health education, stress reduction, Bible study, various arts and crafts projects and more. Staff, volunteers and licensed professionals from the community conduct these programs.

Website: http://womenshelter.org/

Helpful Definitions For Columbia Women's Shelter:
Transitional housing is affordable supportive housing designed to provide housing and appropriate support services to persons who are homeless or who are close to homelessness. The transition is to help them be more self sufficient to move towards independent living on their own. Transitional housing locations are oftentimes called Halfway Houses. The naming of the two (Halfway House OR Transitional House) is oftentimes interchangeable.

Many Transitional Housing programs are subsidized and are income based. Income based transitional housing generally charges 30% of your income for rent when you do have income. Contact the transitional housing facility to see if this applies.

Services provided at transitional housing facilities varies from substance abuse treatment, to psychological assistance, job training, domestic violence assistance, etc. The assistance provided varies, but it is generally affordable and low cost housing. Read the descriptions of each of the transitional living locations for more detailed information. Transitional housing facilities also may or may not assist with alcohol and/or drug substance abuse treatment.

How To Volunteer at Columbia Women's Shelter:
Be a volunteer. Call Columbia Women's Shelter at 803-779-4706 for current volunteer work opportunities.

As A General Note About ShelterListings.org Listings:
ShelterListings.org does our best to provide listings that are free of cost. Many of the homeless shelters and services are free of charge. Some do charge small fees. We always urge the users of our website to visit the websites of the providers listed, OR give them a phone call to find out complete details.

In furtherance; Halfway Houses, Transitional Housing, and Substance Abuse Treatment Centers for the most part charge a fee. Most of the substance abuse resources we provide are low cost, Medicaid or sliding scale fee. We provide as much information as possible on the website of these locations.

Rooming and Boarding Houses do charge fees. We list them where we find them. They are a nice low cost option for housing.



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