An Organization of Hope

On a bitter cold morning in 1981, a priest at the Immaculate Conception Church at the corner of Park and Hungerford Streets in Hartford discovered a homeless man frozen to death near the church steps. Since that defining moment more than 40 years ago, ImmaCare Inc. has been a life-saving resource to thousands of people from Hartford and beyond who are experiencing homelessness, providing decent shelter and affordable, permanent supportive housing.

As the years have gone by, ImmaCare has evolved from a shelter that deals with symptoms, to an organization that also provides solutions through supportive housing. In addition to providing emergency shelter to some of Hartford’s most vulnerable adult men, ImmaCare provides intensive case management services to more than 100 clients in scattered-site apartments throughout the city.

In 2010, ImmaCare opened Casa de Francisco, a Supportive Housing building, located across from the shelter on Hungerford Street, nestled in Hartford’s Frog Hollow neighborhood. The building has 50 apartment units, 25 of which are home to formerly chronically homeless individuals, and the remaining 25 are low-income rentals. Additionally, offices for our executive staff and many front line staff also share space in Casa de Francisco.

As result of a Strategic Planning process in 2015, the Board of Directors along with agency leadership, changed the agency name from Immaculate Conception Shelter and Housing Corporation to ImmaCare Inc., and updated the mission and vision statements and guiding principles to reflect how the agency has grown since its founding.

In the fall of 2020, after twists and turns, including the COVID-19 pandemic, ImmaCare’s major renovations to the Emergency Shelter were completed. In addition to the beauty restored to this 125-year-old Gothic structure, we now have a facility that is up to date with building codes and has increased functionality to better serve our clients.

In addition to the physical transformation, upon completion of the renovations, ImmaCare’s Emergency Shelter transformed into a Housing Navigation Center. At ImmaCare we believe in offering easily accessible shelter and housing services to individuals experiencing homelessness. ImmaCare’s Housing Navigation Center is a new low-barrier, service-enriched shelter which offers those experiencing homelessness the opportunity to develop pathways to permanent housing, income, improved healthcare, and stability.

In 2021, ImmaCare partnered with the Root Center for Advanced Recovery to provide housing and support opportunities to individuals in recovery. The new Housing and Recovery Build Our Roots (HARBOR) program offers Root Center clients experiencing homelessness a direct path to shelter. Click to learn more about this program.

ImmaCare believes that “housing is a human right” and continues to provide housing and shelter with unconditional love to those with no other options.