The INN Between - Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Hospice?

Hospice (noun): A home providing care for the sick, especially the terminally ill. The philosophy of hospice is to treat the whole person by providing support for the patient’s emotional, social, and spiritual needs, not just the medical symptoms.

Is The INN Between a Homeless Shelter?

The INN Between is not a homeless shelter. Homeless shelters accept walk-up clients who are seeking emergency shelter on a night-to-night basis. The INN Between is a medical respite facility, meaning it provides temporary housing to individuals who are too ill to be on the streets but not ill enough to be in the hospital. Unlike shelters, The INN Between requires a medical referral for each potential client, and we schedule a projected length of stay, assign a 24/7 bed, and provide access to medical care along with intensive case management and comprehensive emotional and social support.

The INN Between supports our shelter system by providing an end of life placement for terminally ill individuals or a temporary placement for medically frail individuals

Resources

Start a Medical Respite or End-of-Life Care Program in Your Community

Are you looking to launch a medical respite or end-of-life care facility for individuals experiencing homelessness? You are not alone—and you don’t have to start from scratch.

At The INN Between, we believe that everyone deserves a dignified death, regardless of housing status. To support others in creating compassionate, community-based care models, we’ve embedded a comprehensive guide from the National Health Care for the Homeless Council on our website: “End-of-Life Care in Medical Respite Programs”.

This guide offers a foundational framework for integrating hospice and palliative care into the continuum of homeless services. It outlines critical considerations including facility design, staffing, partnerships with hospice providers, and the emotional and spiritual needs of those nearing the end of life.

We’re proud to share that our Executive Director, Jillian Olmsted, contributed her lived expertise and insights to the creation of this national resource. Her experience leading The INN Between—Utah’s only hospice and medical respite facility for people experiencing homelessness—helped shape best practices now available to guide and inspire similar efforts across the country.

“The limited availability of adequate end-of-life care facilities is a growing problem for the general population, and there is even more concern about the lack of resources available for people experiencing homelessness.” – NHCHC

Explore the guide and learn how you can bring dignity, comfort, and compassionate care to some of the most vulnerable members of your community.

End-of-Life Care in a Medical Respite

NHCHC Medical Respite Resource Library

Status of State-Level Medicaid Benefits for Medical Respite Care

Homelessness in Utah

As part of a HUD requirement, a Point in Time Count is done each January to count the number of homeless individuals in our community. The following results indicate that homelessness is not decreasing:

2016: 2,807
2017: 2,865
2018: 2,876
2019: 2,798
2020: 3,131
2021: 3,565

Our Outcomes

The INN Between opened in August 2015. Our outcomes through January 2025 are

900+ clients served
145 clients have experienced the end of life with dignity
27 clients who were on the brink of death rebounded and went on successfully transition to community based housing and employment
25% of recuperative care residents in FY24 have exited our program into stable housing, preventing a return to homelessness

Agency Awards and Recognitions

2025 Utah One Kind Act a Day, One of a Kind Award
2023 Utah Nonprofits Associaion, UNA Credential Award
2018, Utah Housing Matters, Agency of the Year Award
2016, Salt Lake City Human Rights Commission Award
2016, Society for Social Work Leadership in Healthcare, Agency Award
2016, Utah Housing Coalition, Agency of the Year Award
2015-16, Utah Chapter Award for Excellence in Social Work Leadership, Agency of the Year Award

Who We Serve

Homeless adults who:

are terminally ill,
are too ill to be on the streets, but not ill enough to be in the hospital,
require stable housing in order to initiate cancer treatment or other intensive medical treatments,
require stabilization before they can undergo life-saving surgery,
need to recuperate post-surgery,
require assistance with activities of daily living (dressing, eating, bathing, toileting, taking medications, etc.),
are dependent on insulin, oxygen or dialysis.

Who We Do Not serve

Our goal is to give every human the opportunity to experience the end of life with dignity; however, we lack the resources to serve individuals who:

are under the age of 18,
have advanced Alzheimer’s Disease or other forms of dementia,
required skilled nursing levels of care

Admission Process

Most of our referrals come from hospitals, Volunteers of America’s Street Outreach Team, Fourth Street Clinic, The Road Home and the Salt Lake City Police Department’s Community Connection Center. In rare instances, an individual will self-refer; however, in all cases, we require a referral from a medical provider and a history and physical to assess the client’s appropriateness for our program. We do not accept walk in traffic.

Volunteerism

Volunteers help in many ways, from regular weekly shifts to one-time projects.
In 2018, 1,010 Volunteers gave 7,791 hours of service.

Click here to learn more or to sign up.

When Was The INN Between Founded?

December 3, 2014 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.

Annual Operating Budget (to operate 50 beds)

$1,912,700