Interfaith Works Opens Men’s Shelter at Crabbs Branch

Interfaith Works Men’s Center in Derwood (Photo: Montgomery Fix)

DERWOOD, MD — Interfaith Works has converted its Crabbs Branch facility into a year-round emergency shelter for adult men, adding 60 beds to Montgomery County’s homeless services system.  

The Interfaith Works Men’s Center, located at 16911 Crabbs Branch Way in Derwood, opened Sept. 1. Alongside short-term emergency lodging, the center provides case management, medical and psychiatric care referrals, legal aid, vocational support, and permanent housing placement services.

The change follows a consolidation of Interfaith Works' shelter operations. On Aug. 20, the nonprofit merged its women’s programs into its Taft Court facility in Rockville, expanding capacity there to 70 women, which allowed the Crabbs Branch site to be repurposed for men.

The facility is owned by Montgomery County and operated by Interfaith Works under a license agreement. Initially used as a hypothermia-season overflow shelter, the county completed a $1.14 million, 4,500-square-foot expansion in 2020 to create a year-round facility. It was briefly operated as a men's shelter by the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless before Interfaith Works assumed management in March 2022 as a women's shelter, relocating residents from temporary pandemic quarters at the Coffield Recreation Center.  

Interfaith Works is currently seeking food donations and community volunteers to assist with providing meals for the shelter’s 60 residents through the Montgomery County Volunteer Center.

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For immediate emergency shelter and crisis assistance, contact the Montgomery County Crisis Center at 240-777-4000.