It was a sweltering afternoon two summers ago when Colandra Coleman, executive director of Joseph’s House in Camden, was walking from her office to her car and passed by several people who were waiting for the homeless shelter to reopen for the evening.
“Our guests had nowhere safe to escape the heat. They were also at risk of getting a ticket for loitering,” she said, noting that one of them asked her a poignant question when she shared a friendly warning about the city’s loitering rules: “Where do you want us to go?”
That statement stuck with Coleman.
“That question hit hard, because I realized that I had no answer,” she said. “When folks left the facility, it was as if we were sending them right back into the dysfunctional behaviors that led them to become homeless in the first place – whether it was drugs, crime, whatever the case may be.”
Coleman took that predicament to her board, which in January 2025 approved an expansion of the center’s services to a 24-hour operation – removing the previous closure time of 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. each day. That expansion, which required a new shift, a 40 percent increase in staff, new program needs, and the need for more food, toiletries, cots, blankets and towels, took effect on May 1. The shift also included adding social workers to support housing and job placement, as well as behavioral health and social service provisions.
The cost of the shift comes in at $300,000 each year, and the board recognized that the need was so great, that they approved the expansion – even without knowing at the time where the funding would come from.
Now, with dramatic cuts in state funding that used to provide a much-needed lifeline to the center and the added expenses of a 24-hour operation, a larger funding shortfall is brewing.
“For the last three years, the state has provided significant support, $600,000 annually, to help support staffing of the two shifts that previously existed,” said Coleman. “Without that support, we now must secure $900,000 toward the $2.4 million budget.”
The expansion to around-the-clock programming is essential, and helps Coleman’s team deliver exceptional service and support to some of those most in need in Camden. Presently, the organization serves an average of 80 to 90 people each night, provides additional services like the distribution of approximately 100 bagged lunches each day, and extends services like job and housing placement, showers and laundry to those who are not able to access the center when it is at capacity.
“This move is important because it allows us to provide more services without breaks in between, when guests would have to focus on surviving until we reopened,” said Coleman. “Now our guests are finding employment and housing opportunities more quickly because services are more intense and structured. This also allows us to service more people and our beds are opening up more quickly.”
She added that more clients are able to access services like financial literacy classes, job training workshops and even Alcoholics Anonymous meetings held on site.
Patricia Clark, who serves as the office and HMIS administrator for Joseph’s House, knows all too well the significant need that exists throughout the Camden community. Throughout her life, she has battled drug addiction, survived an abusive relationship and endured life on the streets.
“I was just existing, not living,” said Clark. “Anybody good for me, I pushed away.”
She was incarcerated numerous times, spent two stints in prison and lived at times in tents, abandoned houses or park benches – anywhere she could find a place to sleep. Following drug court programming and treatment, and later a relapse that almost killed her, Clark has been clean since June 20, 2015.
She first began working for Joseph’s House part time in 2017, and the organization later helped connect her with a housing program. Today, she lives in a three-bedroom home in East Camden.
“When I came to Joseph’s House, I knew this was where I belonged, being a vision of hope to others, [and] showing them that change was and is possible,” said Clark, who is now a certified peer recovery specialist as well. “I love helping others, and pretty much dedicate myself to this, having a second job in the same field and also a nonprofit [that I] and others started.”
Clark emphasized the impact that Joseph’s House has on each guest who finds their way to their doorstep.
“Joseph’s House has helped so many get their lives back on track, housed people, [and] sent people to treatment,” she said. “We treat people with dignity and respect because they deserve it, we don’t look down on anyone. We meet our guest right where they are at.”
To learn more about Joseph’s House, and to provide financial support or donations of items like food, water, toiletries and clothing, visit www.jhoc.org.
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