Our History

The Drop Inn Center, now known as Shelterhouse, was founded by one individual – a man named buddy gray. Much like the poet e.e. cummings, buddy chose to sign his name always in lowercase – even today, Shelterhouse keeps his “uncapitalized” tradition alive. In the early 70s, buddy gray invited homeless people into his own home to prevent them from dying on the streets of Cincinnati. From this personal mission was born the idea to establish a more formal shelter, and to offer refuge to the homeless of his city. In 1973, buddy’s idea was made real as an evening-only shelter for the homeless was opened in a series of storefronts in Over-the-Rhine, first at 1713 Vine Street and later at 1324 Main Street.

Volunteers were eventually able to open the shelter seven days a week, incorporated soon after as the Shelterhouse Volunteer Group. As time passed and the shelter grew, the storefronts on Main Street became increasingly inadequate. On January 13, 1978, volunteer forces of the Drop Inn Center made the famous “People’s Move” to the former Teamsters Hall at 217 W. 12th Street where it remained for 37 years.

The once over-sized Teamsters Hall became so crowded that large iron bunks had to be installed. As a result, a new wing was built to house 200 additional residents as well as the introduction of a drug treatment program for men.

Through the ’90s, the Drop Inn Center continued to add space and programs to address the growing need for services for the homeless – the women’s shelter was completely renovated in 1994; the Recovery Hotel opened in 1996 as a transitional housing facility for men in recovery; and the Drop Inn Center began providing supportive services, such as the Transitional Housing Project, which alone provided an additional 18 units of sober transitional housing to formerly homeless individuals.

In 2015 the Drop Inn Center officially became Shelterhouse and opened two new homeless shelters: The Esther Marie Hatton Center for Women at 2499 Reading Road in the Mt. Auburn suburb of Cincinnati and The David & Rebecca Barron Center for Men at 411 Gest Street in the Queensgate neighborhood, just west of downtown Cincinnati. These new state-of-the-art shelters help individuals experiencing homelessness exit homelessness and into homes.