Columbus House, Inc.

Columbus House, Inc., a Connecticut-based tax-exempt nonprofit organization, delivers emergency shelter services, transitional recovery housing, money management for veterans, and supportive services for homeless individuals and families to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Housing and Urban Development as a prime recipient of federal grants and purchase order contracts.

The organization operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on homelessness interventions, with no SBA set-aside designations across its federal portfolio. Columbus House works almost exclusively with two customer agencies. The Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Integrated Service Network 1 (VISN 1) anchors the contract portfolio with 35 awards carrying $6.8 million in combined potential value, while the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development holds 39 awards across its Continuum of Care (CoC) Program (CFDA 14.267). These two agencies account for 88% of Columbus House's recent award volume and 92% of combined potential value, with the remaining activity split among the Department of Veterans Affairs' Under Secretary for Health, the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and related VA components.

Columbus House's contract work centers on emergency homeless shelter services, transitional recovery shelter beds, and representative payee money management for veterans. Representative examples include a $600,008 purchase order from VISN 1 for emergency homeless shelter services in West Haven, Connecticut (period through September 2028); a $995,359 purchase order for transitional recovery shelter services for homeless veterans with a total potential value of approximately $3 million (base year plus four one-year options); and a $169,813 purchase order from VISN 1 for veteran money management services including intake, budget development, and financial reporting (period through April 2030, structured to support up to 20 veterans monthly). The grant portfolio spans HUD CoC Program awards for permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, and case management, alongside Department of Veterans Affairs Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Program (CFDA 64.033) and VA Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program (CFDA 64.024) recipients focused on outreach, case management, and temporary financial assistance for housing-related expenses. Columbus House received a $1,176,433 HUD CoC award on December 1, 2025 (completion November 30, 2026) and a $3.2 million VA SSVF award on September 30, 2025 (completion September 30, 2026), both supporting comprehensive homelessness services in the New Haven, Connecticut area.

Activity volume has remained modest and episodic over the past five years—six awards in 2021 declining to five in 2022, recovering to ten in 2023, then settling at six awards in both 2024 and 2025. The organization operates as a prime recipient in 89% of its awards (100 of 112 total) and as a sub-recipient in 11% (12 awards), primarily under City of New Haven HUD CoC grants where Columbus House delivers seasonal overflow shelter case management, rapid rehousing subsidies, and supportive services for individuals living with HIV/AIDS experiencing homelessness. Place of performance is concentrated in West Haven and New Haven, Connecticut. Columbus House places work under two VA indefinite delivery contracts—VA24113D0092 (6 task orders, $288 thousand combined potential value) and VA24113D0094 (6 task orders, $612 thousand combined potential value)—though the majority of activity flows through individual purchase orders and direct CoC and SSVF grants rather than standing vehicles. The SCI dataset captures only $107 thousand in invoiced federal service-contract revenue in FY2023 across 2.0 FTEs at a government-paid rate of $25.42/hour, reflecting the organization's structure as a shelter operator and grant recipient rather than a federal services contractor; this figure excludes goods, grants, and the organization's broader federal revenue. Three awards face recompete or completion within the next twenty-four months, carrying combined potential value of $525 thousand.