About Us
History
Hope House was founded in 1955 by Jack Donahue, a tireless advocate for the homeless in Boston. He developed and refined the treatment program for alcoholics upon which the core mission of Hope House rests. Mr. Donahue, a recovering alcoholic, initially opened his own home to homeless individuals in the community suffering from alcoholism. He purchased our first South End row house in the early 1960’s and established the comprehensive community-based treatment program still in use today. He was instrumental in the passage of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Alcoholism Treatment and Rehabilitation Act- the “Alcoholism Bill” of 1971 which decriminalized public drunkenness allowing treatment instead of incarceration. Then Governor Francis W. Sargent held the actual bill-signing ceremony at Hope House! We have grown to fill four row houses with an eighty-bed capacity and a fifth row house used to provide transitional housing for graduates.