Our History

In 1987, Community Lodgings was founded by 8 Alexandria churches and purchased five apartment buildings in the Arlandria community. Since then, our organization has grown to provide housing for 46 homeless and low-income families. Our Transitional Housing Program (THP) provides housing and intensive case management for up to 14 homeless families at a time over a 2-year period. All families receive access to a caseworker, child services coordinator, career counselor, and expert budget mentors. We saved a total of 71 individuals from homelessness in 2009. In the last 3 years, 17 families successfully completed our program fully-employed and able to rent/purchase their own home. We also provide affordable housing for an additional 32 low-income families. To further promote self-sufficiency, we opened a learning center in 1998 where THP families and other disadvantaged Alexandrians took courses in computer literacy and ESL. In 2002, we introduced our Family Learning Center (FLC) and a Youth Education Program (YEP) to provide afterschool services for at-risk children in THP and throughout the community. YEP’s goals are to increase academic achievement and decrease at-risk behavior. In spring 2008 the space was doubled in size, allowing the program to expand and provide more instructional time for more than 90 at-risk children and their parents. With trusted bilingual staff and quality services, we are Arlandria’s best resource to help families reach self-sufficiency – serving over 250 families per week. The Catalogue of Philanthropy named Community Lodgings as “one of the best small charities in the Greater Washington region”.