CSA announces The Emily House

In February 2018, Catholic Services of Acadiana will proudly open the doors to The Emily House, a new emergency shelter for homeless women and children. Located in Lafayette, The Emily House represents CSA’s most recent endeavor to respond to women experiencing homelessness in Acadiana.

In continuance with adopting national best practices in addressing homelessness, The Emily House will focus on ensuring that experiences of homelessness are rare and brief. The shelter services will be focused on rapidly returning families to permanent housing, with a goal of stabilization through intensive and personalized case management services continuing after housing placement.

With the opening of The Emily House, CSA will formally close its operations at New Life Center in Opelousas, a program in which Catholic Services of Acadiana successfully offered shelter services for women and children for 25 years. We would like to express our sincere gratitude for the overwhelming support the Opelousas community showed towards the New Life Center during its tenure.

Acknowledging that the vast majority of those seeking shelter from New Life Center originate from Lafayette and recognizing the void of available emergency shelter services for women and children in the Lafayette area, CSA was prompted to relocate its women and children sheltering operations closer to the origin of need.

The Emily House is a renovated 48-bed modern facility, which will improve the women’s and children’s shelter experience. The newer facility is also expected to reduce the overall facility operation costs, enabling more funds to be directed towards enhancing client services.

We eagerly look forward to opening our doors and welcoming those in need of our services in The Emily House. A formal ribbon cutting ceremony will be announced in the near future.

The Emily House is named in honor of a local individual who has demonstrated long standing commitment to ensuring the success of Catholic Services of Acadiana’s ministry with women and children.

Under the patronage of St. Emily de Rodat, The Emily House strives to respond to the pressing needs of homeless women and children in Acadiana. In the founding of her order, St. Emily understood the importance of caring for the most vulnerable people of her time, especially women and children.