Lighthouse MI

Lighthouse’s mission is to build equitable communities that alleviate poverty in partnership with and in service to individuals, families, and organizations. Our primary purpose is to meet the basic needs of community members living in poverty and to support and empower them in their journey toward long-term stability. To fulfill this mission, Lighthouse offers a broad range of housing, food assistance, stabilization, and support programs that address emergency needs while also tackling individual and systemic barriers to self-sufficiency. 

Lighthouse of Oakland County and South Oakland Shelter joined forces in 2019 to provide a stronger response to poverty in our community. Since the merger, we have extensively scaled food distribution, emergency shelter (including Oakland County’s only youth shelter), and affordable housing; we continually look for new opportunities to address our community’s most pressing needs.

Over the past year alone, Lighthouse programs accomplished the following: 

• Our Food Program distributed 154,357 boxes of emergency food to households in need
• The Emergency Shelter provided 339 individuals with 21,626 nights of emergency shelter, daily meals, and essential services to connect them to housing
• Our Runaway and Homeless Youth programs provided safe shelter and essential services to 91 youth
• Across our Housing Programs, we served 209 households (548 individuals) through permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, and rental/utility assistance
• Our Housing Development team began the planning stages of increasing affordable housing opportunities through the development of a new 54-unit apartment complex and the redevelopment of 40 units in Pontiac

Through a holistic, client-centered approach, we move individuals and families from homelessness to housing and from crisis to stability.