About Outsiders Inn

The Mission of Outsiders Inn is to lift people out of homelessness through advocacy, support and resources, while serving the community with integrity, transparency, and respect. 

We started in advocacy, telling the human stories about the need for fair wages and housing stability. That advocacy work has expanded to include legislative issues surrounding safety and civil rights.

We're proud to partner with state leaders and higher education to work on complex issues because we know they impact our unhoused residents disproportionately. Addressing issues that harm vulnerable people is relevant to our work AND to improving safety for everyone in our community.

After all these years, the basics haven't changed. The need for testimony and advocacy from people with lived experience is still essential to protecting basic civil rights for unhoused residents. The conversation may have more complexity at times, but what we're called to do is the same: advocate at every level of government and work together for basic human rights, safety, and access to stable housing for all of our residents.

We naturally have worked with community shelters and eventually expanded to shelter operations with multiple programs that benefit our unhoused residents.

Leading with Lived Experience & Peer Support

Our team is comprised of people who have endured living through trauma related to homelessness at some point in our lives. Our 501 c(3) non-profit has been providing peer support to people experiencing homelessness since 2016. We believe in building community through involving the people of the community. We have strongly advocated that listening to the authentic voices from those receiving services is the only way to truly build a system that works for everyone in our diverse community.

Peer support specialists are people who have lived experience with traumatic experiences like homelessness, and mental health or substance use disorders - and we use this mutuality of experience to make a connection and help our community see that recovery from all of these is something achievable. Peer support brings a level of acceptance, understanding, and validation needed in our community to heal from the trauma of housing instability. Our Peer Support Specialists work with participants to develop goals, create strategies for self-empowerment, and offer practical advice along the way while encouraging a person's purpose and potential. We keep our goals simple. Helping people everyday to stay connected to community, resources and hope.

Pillars of Practice

Respect: 

The board, staff and guests of Outsiders Inn work together in relationships built on equality and respect. We believe in making the right choices with transparency and accountability.

Recovery: 

Outsiders Inn believes in the value of the lived experience of peers working alongside people to help build and follow their plans for future success.

Resources: 

Outsiders Inn partners with guests and community providers to mobilize formal and informal resources to achieve an individual’s wellness and well-being goals.

Resilience: 

Outsiders Inn’s practice will affirm and strengthen guests’ cultural, racial, and linguistic identities and enhance their ability to function in a multicultural society.

Responsive: 

Outsiders Inn programs are in the community and contribute by advocating for services and systems that are fair, flexible, accountable and responsive to community needs. Our programs  contribute to the community-building process by advocating for services and systems that are fair, flexible, accountable and responsive to emerging guest and community needs.