Summary
Organization name
Emmaus Home
2015
Tax id (EIN)
47-1078731
Categories
Health , Community , Humanitarian Aid
Address
2000 SPROUL RDBROOMALL, PA 19008
Emmaus Home is a nonprofit organization that provides community-based housing and individualized supports for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Founded more than a decade ago, Emmaus Home operates licensed residential homes that enable individuals to live with dignity, stability, and meaningful connection to their communities.
Emmaus Home’s model emphasizes small, inclusive homes located in residential neighborhoods, where residents receive daily support tailored to their needs, preferences, and goals. Services focus on promoting independence, safety, and quality of life through assistance with activities of daily living, health and wellness, employment or day programming, and community participation.
The organization currently operates multiple homes across southeastern Pennsylvania and is actively expanding to meet growing demand, particularly in York County where many adults remain on waiting lists for residential services. Emmaus Home works in close partnership with families, support coordinators, and public systems to ensure long-term sustainability, with ongoing services funded through Pennsylvania’s Medicaid waiver programs.
At its core, Emmaus Home is committed to the belief that every person deserves a safe home, a sense of belonging, and the opportunity to live a full and valued life within the community.
Giving Activity
Mission
Emmaus Home empowers adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live full and valued lives in the community. We provide safe, supportive homes and person-centered services that promote independence, dignity, and meaningful connection.
Background Statement
Emmaus Home is a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit organization that provides community-based residential services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities across southeastern and south central Pennsylvania. Founded more than a decade ago, Emmaus Home began with one mother’s determination to create a safe, stable, and dignified home for her adult child at a time when appropriate community-based options were scarce.
In its earliest days, Emmaus Home partnered with the Catholic Church, which donated an abandoned church property to help launch the organization’s first residential home. That foundational act of generosity made it possible to establish a model rooted in dignity, compassion, and community inclusion. What began as a single home born from faith, advocacy, and necessity has since grown into a proven and replicable approach to community living.
Today, Emmaus Home operates 15 licensed community homes serving adults who require varying levels of daily support to live meaningful, self-directed lives. Each home is intentionally small and located within residential neighborhoods, allowing individuals to remain connected to their communities while receiving individualized, person-centered supports that promote independence, safety, and belonging.
Demand for these services continues to far exceed available capacity. In York County alone, more than 300 adults remain on the Pennsylvania Office of Developmental Programs waiting list for residential placement. Many individuals cannot safely live with aging caregivers or independently without consistent supports, leaving families waiting years for appropriate housing options.
In response to this urgent need, Emmaus Home has adopted a deliberate and sustainable expansion strategy. The organization plans to grow from 15 homes to 30 community homes by 2027, prioritizing ownership-based housing models that protect residents from displacement and long-term instability. Expansion efforts are supported through strong public-private partnerships, including Medicaid waiver funding and philanthropic investment.
Through more than a decade of experience, prudent stewardship, and a steadfast commitment to dignity and inclusion, Emmaus Home continues to respond to unmet needs by creating permanent homes where adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities are valued as neighbors, community members, and individuals with full and meaningful lives.
Needs
Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities across southeastern and south central Pennsylvania face a critical shortage of safe, stable, and affordable community-based housing paired with the supports required to live independently. While state systems prioritize community living, the availability of licensed residential homes has not kept pace with demand. In York County alone, more than 300 adults remain on the Pennsylvania Office of Developmental Programs waiting list for residential services, many of whom cannot safely remain with aging caregivers or live independently without consistent support.
Although Pennsylvania’s Medicaid waiver programs provide ongoing funding for residential services once a home is licensed and occupied, Medicaid does not cover the startup costs required to open a new home. These include furnishings, household supplies, initial staffing and training, utilities, and other essential expenses that must be addressed before residents can move in. Without philanthropic support to bridge this gap, many otherwise viable community homes are delayed or never open, leaving individuals stuck on waiting lists despite available long-term funding.
The lack of available housing creates prolonged instability for individuals and families, often forcing adults with disabilities into inappropriate living situations or leaving them without access to the supports necessary to thrive. For families, this uncertainty can persist for years as individuals wait for openings that may never materialize. For individuals with disabilities, delays in accessing community-based housing limit independence, social connection, and overall quality of life.
While leasing properties can allow for faster expansion, leased homes remain vulnerable to rent increases, property sales, and non-renewed leases, which can disrupt care and displace residents. Ownership-based housing models provide greater long-term stability but require coordinated upfront investment to move from acquisition to occupancy.
Emmaus Home has identified this gap through ongoing referrals from support coordinators, families, and state systems, as well as through firsthand experience managing housing instability in leased properties. Addressing this need requires targeted philanthropic investment in startup and move-in readiness costs so that new homes can open fully prepared and transition quickly to sustainable, Medicaid-funded operations.
By supporting the startup phase of new community homes, funders help ensure that adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities can move from waiting lists into permanent, stable residences where long-term public funding can sustain services and individuals can live with dignity and belonging.
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Organization Data
BROOMALL, PA 19008