George Herman House's History

In 1976 Nina Herman founded the George Herman Memorial Foundation in memory of her late husband. As a social worker in Toronto, Nina worked with many women suffering from psychiatrically diagnosed illnesses. She saw them going through the revolving door of a hospital psych ward too frequently. She witnessed the sub-standard housing conditions they were forced to live in and realized those conditions, combined with the fact that most women were not ready to live independently so soon after a hospitalization discharge, were major contributing factors to the huge rate of hospital recidivism.

Her dream was to finance a residential program, through the Memorial Foundation. The Ministry of Community and Social Services offered additional and on-going funding to operate a house with supportive programming for women. The house, which is leased from Mainstay Housing, and its program was called George Herman House. After 1988, our government funding revenue was transferred from MCSS to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Our current government funding support comes from the MoHLTC through the Toronto Central LHIN (Local Health Integration Network). Additional funding to meet programming and housing requirements comes through fundraising initiatives.

Thousands of women have benefited from the services, programs and supportive housing offered at GHH for over 40 years. The Board of Directors, staff and residents of GHH share Nina Herman's dream and continue to work very hard at keeping this dream alive and relevant today, and for many years to come.