The Next 100 Years

Our mission is to empower individuals and families to develop skills to achieve and maintain independence through transitional housing and supportive services.

In 2023, Southwick House completed a reorganization of mission to fit the needs of today and embarked on a $3.6M capital campaign to build a new facility for the next 100 years of service to our most vulnerable populations. While excellent homeless shelter options are available in Lyon and surrounding Kansas counties, all of them include required funding restrictions such as experiencing domestic violence, pregnancy, addiction treatment or faithbased subscription. The effects of no low barrier housing available are many.

In May 2026, the Student and Family Resource Office of USD253 reported 73 students in long-term couch surfing situations with single parents who would have qualified for Southwick services. These families are moving from relatives to friends to hotels. Transitional housing is for the truly invisible population of housing insecure. These are individuals and families, often single parents, who live below the poverty line, paycheck to paycheck, and have experienced one triggering event which causes housing loss.

Like you and I, our first thought when facing a home loss crisis is likely not to buy a tent and live on the street. We call on our friends, our relatives, and our community social services for help. Southwick House provides this help by stabilizing the family with safe housing. Our transitional model is set at 280 days of sliding scale fee housing accompanied by connection to services to support stabilization of circumstances and the opportunity for renewed participation in our community.