About Nativity House

The Nativity House journey began on a cold Christmas Eve 45 years ago as a Jesuit
priest and two volunteers welcomed the homeless into a small storefront with a pot of coffee, a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter. From those humble beginnings, Nativity House is now the largest, most comprehensive outreach to adults experiencing homelessness in Pierce County.

24 hours a day, 7 days a week Nativity House is a no-barriers program that offers
meals, basic needs, behavioral health and substance use disorder support, job and
skills training, connection to benefits like Medicaid/Medicare and SSI, and connection to shelter and housing solutions through Coordinated Entry.

We also support the full personhood of our guests through enriching opportunities like our optional prayer and meditation space and our therapeutic art room. Each evening, we shelter 167 single adults, with 117 beds for male-identified guests and 50 for female identified guests. In times of extreme weather, we expand this capacity to 267 beds.

Services

Day Shelter

Hot meals – 3 times a day
• Clothing (M – F, 12pm – 3pm)
• Hygiene products and toiletries
• Mail services (M – F, 10am, 12pm, 2pm)

Overnight Shelter

• Clients must be self-sufficient
• No ID required
• Check in with staff at 4:15pm for waitlist

Healing and Support

• Case management (overnight shelter guests)
• Behavioral health services
• Referral to substance use disorder programs
• Art, prayer, and other enriching opportunities as available (completely optional)

Referrals

• On-call coordinated entry for shelter and housing
• Connection to mainstream benefits like Medicaid/Medicare and SSI

While we do our best, there are a few things we can’t provide:

• Our kitchen is communal, so we can’t accommodate dietary restrictions
• Overnight guests must be self-sufficient (able to take care of their own basic needs)
• Internet access
• Private rooms
• Entertainment
• Transportation via staff
• Medical practice
• Physical transferring of an individual (including pushing of wheelchairs)
• Medication management
• Shower/toilet assistance

We also share our building with the Nativity House Apartments, which offers 50 units of permanent supportive housing for those who are formerly chronically homeless. Please click this link to view information about the Nativity House Apartments.