Patients and caregivers, who we call “guests,” are matched with a compassionate volunteer host offering a place to stay in their home.
Accommodations vary, but at a minimum volunteer hosts provide guests with a comfortable place to sleep and access to a bathroom. Volunteer hosts do not provide meals or transportation to the hospital, although some hosts live in areas with access to public transit.
Who can be a guest?
Guests may sign-up themselves but must include a referral name of a case/social worker at a hospital or hospitality home. All patients staying in a host home need to be accompanied by another guest. In addition, an eligible guest needs to:
- Live more than 30 miles from the hospital. Currently, we serve the greater Baltimore area.
- Have a permanent home to return to after his/her stay
- Be an important support person for the patient
- Be unlikely to put a host family at risk
- Be in active treatment (at least 1 appointment/week)
- Be supported by two character references
- Pass a background check
Requesting a place to stay
To request to join our housing community, you can complete an application for housing online here. Please be prepared to provide two character references. We will contact your character references in addition to completing a background check. Once your request is approved, you’ll be able to view housing options. You can expect it to take up to three business days once your character references and background check have been submitted to have access to the site. Additionally, it will take a few days for you to communicate with and be approved by a host. As such, please request as early as possible if you know you need a place to stay. We do our best to match as many patients and families with hosts as possible, but we cannot guarantee last minute accommodations.
The cost for accommodations is a suggested donation of $15 per night. This fee keeps Hosts for Humanity up and running, and helps guests like you be matched with volunteer hosts. You can make a donation online today or at any time during your stay.
For additional information visit our FAQ page.