Community Shelter Services

Community Shelter Services is known to the community for its commitment and integrity of the agency’s mission “to preserve the dignity and support the development of those individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness by providing temporary, transitional and permanent options for shelter, as well as supportive services, referrals, advocacy, and community education.”

CSS aids the poor and homeless who come to our agency for basic human services in times of critical need. We begin by providing immediate services in our Emergency Shelter and then assist individuals and families with various levels of support services to maintain a functional lifestyle and housing stability. We operate 96 units of site-based subsidized housing for single adults with little or no income. We also own and operate several single-family homes in which we place former emergency shelter residents. We serve over 500 adults and families annually and have been doing this work for over forty years. The clients we serve include veterans suffering from PTSD, the seriously mentally ill, individuals with substance abuse issues, families fleeing domestic violence and child abuse, and the poor and unemployed facing eviction or foreclosure. As a member of the HOME team, we partner with other service providers to plan and administer the community’s safety net for the homeless. We transform lives using a holistic approach to understanding and addressing behavioral health, housing and employment needs. We commit ourselves to helping those we serve achieve renewed lives of dignity and self-determination.

Community Shelter Services’ ability to keep this vulnerable population safe is reflective of all the support we receive from you and others in our community. Your gift to CSS this Erie Gives Day ensures that we can continue to provide refuge and pathways to stability for those in need.