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Diakon House dedication participants included, l-r, the Rev. John Sabatelli, Christ Lutheran Church; the Rev. Gary Dittman, Amazing Grace Lutheran Church; Amanda Owens, Abell Foundation, a project grantor; Karen Adkins, Baltimore Outreach Services; and the Rev. John Richter of Diakon.
Dedication-ceremony participants outside the refurbished Diakon House.
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It may be called Diakon House, but for families hopeful of building a life of self-sufficiency, it’s called home.
Located at 2422 McElderry St., Baltimore, Diakon House is the latest addition to the Baltimore Outreach Services’ housing program. Growing out of a soup kitchen and homeless shelter operated by Christ Lutheran Church, Inner Harbor, BOS is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing housing, jobs, and education to impoverished women and children in the City of Baltimore.
The house was one of a series of houses Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries had purchased in Baltimore to rehabilitate for low- to moderate-income homeowners. Because of the need for transitional housing, Diakon sold the property at cost to the Christ Church program, which gutted and converted the house into two separate, multi-level, two-bedroom units. In recognition of the partnership between the congregation and Diakon, Christ Church decided to call the property Diakon House.
Diakon House will be home to two families, who previously resided in the BOS emergency shelter in the basement of Christ Church.
Unlike other shelters that limit stays to 90 days, BOS allows residents to remain in the shelter until housing is available, as long as they work toward their goals of housing and self-sufficiency.
“It is impossible for women to get an ID, get a job, and move out of an emergency shelter in 90 days,” says Karen Adkins, BOS executive director. “Most of our folks take five to six months.”
Women who enter the BOS transitional-housing program must complete a two-year, intensive counseling and mentoring program that encourages growth to achieve goals of financial stability, mental-health treatment, and substance-abuse recovery. All residents must be employed to enter the program.
Faced with a growing number of people seeking help, BOS recently decided to expand its housing program from four units to 10 within the next five years. The McElderry Street location holds the fifth and sixth units.
The McElderry Street unit “sits right next to Amazing Grace Lutheran Church. There is a green space behind it for kids to play,” says Adkins. “Instead of being a vacant boarded-up building, two families will get a new start.”
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