SC Homeless Facility Helps Residents Transition to Normal Life

The House of Faith, Inc. was founded in 1992 by Sister Maria Cordis, a member of Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth based in Convent Station, N.J. The organization was founded to help homeless single adults acquire self-sufficiency in order to live on their own. The idea stemmed from volunteer work that Cordis had been doing with students in the early 1980s when she was guidance director at Sacred Heart Academy on Washington Street in Hoboken. It also came from Cordis’ upbringing.”When I was growing up in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s in Hudson County, I saw how neighbors helped each other out, that we never left anyone behind,” said Cordis.

By 1994, the House of Faith was incorporated, and it started the “Step-by-Step” program. Over a 22-week period, homeless participants received counseling, attend classes and partook in seminars on subjects ranging from money management to CPR. The program, based in a church in Hoboken, provided participants with food and help in finding housing and employment.

As the program flourished, there were moves to establish a transitional housing facility – a house where the graduates of the program could get back on their feet.

In January of 1998, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the House of Faith a three-year grant of $880,425 for the acquisition, rehabilitation and operation of a transitional housing facility. That was followed by a $312,400 grant from the NJ Department of Community Affairs for renovations to the Ege Avenue location where the House of Faith moved its operations in March 2003 and where it continues to exist.

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