Who We Are & What We Do
Located within a 45-minute drive from downtown Austin, Texas Camp Haven Homeless Sanctuary is located in Cedar Creek about 27 miles southeast of downtown Austin. A former private campground that has been turned into a safe space for unhoused people who have been displaced by new laws against public camping.
Mission
We believe that providing a protected home base is the first step toward helping homeless persons reclaim their dignity, find employment and eventually become a productive member of the larger society.
Vision
In response to passage of the City of Austin's Proposition B and subsequent state legislation that banned camping on public property throughout Texas. These sudden and heartless changes in public policy came as a shock to the homeless community and their supporters, galvanizing the property owners to offer camp haven as a temporary refuge for displaced, homeless people. It is hoped that our example and similar actions of others will inspire a nationwide movement to offer privately owned land as Safe Havens where unhoused and persecuted human beings can begin rebuilding their lives.
Values
"Through kindness and caring to our self and others, we seek to improve ourselves and the lives of others."
-Josiah
"Together we can do anything
Stop the madness
Feed the people
House the homeless
Never quit
Never stop caring
Love
Compassion
Giving"
-Brittany
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?"
- The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Imagine all the people sharing all the world"
_Lennon
"Be the change you are trying to create."
_Gandhi
Meet the Team
Josiah Ingalls
Executive Director
Tel: 512-987-8871
Email: help@camphavensanctuary.org
Janet Ingalls
HR Director
Tel:(737) 278-0293
Email: help@camphavensanctuary.org
Tabitha Hoffstatter
HR Support
Tel: 210-887-7308
Email: taithahoffstatter@gmail.com
Colleen Mulvey
Board Member
Kell
Kelly Ingalls
Board Member
Heather Ingalls
Board Member
Heather Welch
Board Member
How we got started
On June 13, 2021 work began on preparing the property for transitional residents, and on July 12, 2021 we welcomed our first residents. Our efforts attracted media attention, which engendered donations of food, clothing, materials, and tools, including a used but serviceable nine passenger van.
Offers of support and labor continue to arrive, while we do all in our power to ensure this initial momentum keeps growing.
Camp Haven is the invention of Josiah Ingalls, who spent 2 1/2 years as a homeless youth in San Antonio, until the generosity of others helped him find his footing in life. Today he is married and a father of two who works in landscaping business, while pursuing side vocations as a homeless advocate and occasional candidate for public office. Josiah will never forget what it was like to be homeless, and he offers us this story: Twenty-four years ago, when I was 17, I found myself homeless and on the streets, where I lived for about 2 1/2 years. That experience transformed me as a advocate for homeless individuals. My life since then, I have often found myself speaking out and being the voice for the homeless population of Austin and surrounding areas. My real advocacy work for them started back when I ran for Mayor of Austin in 2009. I found myself defending them and fighting to maintain social programs that were on the chopping block at that time due to the downturn in the economy. Now I am standing as a advocate for the homeless once again, as a direct response to Austin, Texas Proposition B and the new Texas camping ban that will be going into effect in October 2021. These camping bans will do little more than criminalize the existence of individuals who are homeless and have nowhere else to go. So now I'm doing the only logical thing I can do at this time, and that is turning the 10 acres that has been my home for more than six years into a place where homeless individuals can come. I am also working to use another piece of land that my company owns for the same purpose.
My Camp Haven supporters and I are asking that you help us help others. We have the drive and experience to help homeless individuals in need, but we cannot do it by ourselves. Together we can accomplish Camp Haven's goals and begin to change the structure of a society that is so stacked against the homeless population here in Texas.