Transitional Housing
Eighty-eight two-bedroom homes leased to families with children for up to a year. Rent is $400 a month, utilities included.
Mesa, Arizona — since 1996
A two-bedroom home for your family, for up to a year, while you get back on your feet.
House of Refuge is a neighborhood of 88 family homes on 20 acres of the former Williams Air Force Base. Families with children pay $400 a month including utilities, work with a case manager, and graduate into stable housing of their own.
This is a neighborhood, not a shelter.
House of Refuge serves families with children and pregnant women who can verify income of at least $1,170 a month and pay $400 a month rent — utilities included. If that's you, the next step is a phone call.
See full eligibility
What's on the campus
More than housing.
Every family that lives here has a real two-bedroom home. They also have a case manager, an employment coach, an after-school program for their kids, a teen center, a community garden, and a pantry — all on the same 20 acres.
Employment & Education Center
One-on-one employment coaching, résumé building, financial literacy, and computer access. 88% of adult heads of household leave employed.
Community Center
After-school programming for resident children weekdays from 3:30 to 5:30, with full-day programming during school breaks.
Teen Center
Life-skills, financial literacy, and youth engagement programming for older children living on campus.
Community Garden
An on-site garden that supplements the pantry and gives families a hands-on place to gather, work, and grow food together.
Pantry & Donation Center
Furnishings, clothing, and food assistance for resident families and qualifying community members, open Monday through Saturday.
Three ways in.
Need a home for your family
Families with children or pregnant women who can verify income and pay $400 a month rent. Call us and we'll talk through whether House of Refuge is the right fit.
See eligibility and intakeShow up for a shift
Volunteers keep the Donation Center stocked, run after-school activities, coach résumés, and host community dinners. Come for an orientation; we'll get you on a shift this month.
Volunteer roles and how to startSponsor a year of housing
Adopt a Home covers one full year for one family. Every gift to House of Refuge qualifies for the Arizona Charitable Tax Credit.
Ways to give
Who we are
Eighty-eight homes. Twenty acres. One neighborhood.
House of Refuge began in 1996, when a group of faith-driven founders looked at the empty family housing left behind by the closing of Williams Air Force Base and saw a ready-made village for Arizona families with nowhere to sleep.
Three decades later, the same homes are still here, and the model still works. Last year, 160 families — 514 people — called this campus home. 89% of them graduated into stable housing. Under CEO Kayla Kolar, who took the reins in 2021 from Nancy Marion's 23-year tenure, the campus has kept its original character: a real neighborhood, with a community garden, a teen center, an after-school program, and neighbors who know each other's kids by name.
More about House of Refuge