Mission Statement
A Tall Order, Inc. is an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) private operating foundation whose charitable mission is to provide affordable housing to underprivileged individuals. Our purpose is to make otherwise unaffordable housing available to individuals experiencing financial hardship, housing insecurity, or difficulty obtaining conventional housing. We provide programs and counseling at no cost to our guests as we help them navigate their lives to better housing.
Our History & Success
We have been providing low-cost transitional housing since 2002 when we purchased our first facility in Kearns, Utah and named it HomeInn. We wanted our guests to feel like it was their Home in our Inn.
We immediately found a large community of individuals that had very few options for housing . The obstacles they faced prevented them from entering traditional apartments or other housing options.
We began providing housing that required no background checks by obtaining a license to operate under Utah Innkeeper Laws. These laws allowed us to accept guests without deposits.
In 2009 we expanded to over 80 units when we were awarded the contract to manage the Rio Grande Hotel by the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) of Salt Lake City. We began adding programs so that we could help our guests see a new and better way to prosper in life by participating in self-reliance classes and workshops.
We became non-profit status and opened our foundation office in 2012 and began a focused approach to ending housing insecurities to as many as we possibly could. We have focused on low rents, programs and counseling, and giving each of our guests the time needed to regain their footing.
We are always looking for more housing and better ways to serve the individuals in our community to find the path to their own home.
Finding Everyone a Home Truly Is A Tall Order
In 2002 we started our adventure by purchasing our very first hotel in Kearns, Utah. We found early that there was a large number of people who needed affordable housing AND a way to maintain a safe place to live until they got back on their feet. Our passion grew as we found ways to help others help themselves. We added classes and workshops, we made connections in finding them temporary jobs, we found ways to help them start to save enough money to move to apartments and homes.
In 2009 we were awarded an opportunity to manage another hotel for Salt Lake City and continued to improve our programs to better the lives of those who experience housing hurdles.
In 2019 we were approved as a non-profit 501(c)3 Private Operating Foundation under the name A Tall Order, Inc. We have joined the non-profit community to do all we can to provide genuine low-cost housing and life-changing self-reliance training for our friends.
We now house over 80 guests in our two facilities, and over 95% of our guests move to better living arrangements when they leave our housing and in-house self-reliance programs.
We take pride in being self-reliant as a foundation and setting that example for our resident guests, and we will never ask anyone for operating funds to run our organization. Our only fundraising goals are to expand our already successful programs and counseling to help them on this difficult path.
We appreciate the support of the community and our public sector partners in this life-changing effort because
Finding Everyone A Home is Truly
A Tall Order.
Brent & Naomi Willis
Founders
HomeInn Hotels &
A Tall Order Foundation
