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Porchlight was created on January 1, 2004 by the merger of two well-established and successful non-profit providers of emergency shelter and low-cost housing in Dane County: Community Housing & Services, Inc. (CHAS) and Transitional Houisng, Inc. (THI) Together we are largest supplier of low-cost housing to single adults in Dane County. Porchlight comprises two emergency shelters (one for men and one for men and women suffering from serious mental illnesses), 172 single room or efficiency units and 55 family units. Porchlight is largest single non-profit supplier of low-cost housing in Dane County. We are extremely excited about this unique opportunity to effectively and efficiently provide services to those most in need in our community. Through the merger we can provide a truly integrated network of emergency shelter, housing, support service and community-living opportunities for homeless households. The variety of housing, support service and community-living opportunities allows us to effectively assist residents and program participants in overcoming the causes of their homelessness so they can maintain housing. Maintenance of housing reduces homelessness, saving valuable resources invested in shelters, reducing the tremendous costs homeless individuals for this community and avoiding the devastating impact of homelessness on the households themselves. Integrated financial, medical and legal services have long been provided by single enterprises for the most sophisticated consumers. It is now time for us as a community to provide the same level of integrated services to the least sophisticated and those most in need in our community. Through the merger, Porchlight is able to provide housing opportunities ranging from emergency shelters to transitional housing and ultimately permanent housing all within a single agency. Greater housing opportunities and more effective and efficient service to those most in need in our community, thereby reducing homelessness, these are what Porchlight is all about.