How was st. francis house Started?

St. Francis House was founded in 1984 as a grassroots, community response to the growing crisis of homelessness in Greater Boston. Decades of drastic reductions in resources for other systems of care, including public hospitals and rehabilitation facilities, a lack of affordable housing, and other complex issues contributed to this crisis.

In 1981, The Franciscan Friars of St. Anthony’s Shrine opened a bread line to feed the homeless in Downtown Boston - soon the line grew to 200 people a day. Seeing the need, and with support from neighbors, activists, and local community and political leaders, they organized the purchase and renovation of an aging building, located at 39 Boylston Street in Boston, to serve as a safe haven for people experiencing homelessness during the day.

An independent, nonprofit, nonsectarian day shelter was created to provide emergency services such as hot meals, clean clothing, and counseling, all under one roof. Over the years, St. Francis House has expanded its services to meet the increasingly complex needs of guests, launching programs in healthcare, workforce development, housing, substance use disorder treatment, and more.

Today, St. Francis House remains in the heart of Downtown Boston and is the largest day shelter in Massachusetts, providing hundreds of guests each day with everything they need to reclaim their dignity, rebuild their lives, and make positive and sustainable change toward housing, income and behavioral health stability.

WHAT DOES THE PUBLIC NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ST. FRANCiS house AND THE WORK THAT YOU DO?

St. Francis House fills a gap in services in Greater Boston, providing much-needed support to hundreds of adults experiencing homelessness during the day, when there is typically a lack of safe, supportive spaces for them to go to access services that provide pathways to stability and recovery. As a low barrier day shelter, we turn no one away and open 365 days a year at 6:30 AM, when overnight emergency shelters typically close, and close at 3:00 PM, when overnight emergency shelters typically reopen.

Our staff understands the unique challenges guests face in coping with mental illness, substance use, chronic medical conditions, limited or no income, and other complex issues that often contribute to their initial loss of housing. As a result, our Refuge, Readiness, and Recovery Services are comprehensive, flexible, non-judgmental, and centrally located.

Refuge Services address the immediate, basic needs of individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty. These include shelter, safety, meals, clean clothes, showers, a mailing address, and access to identification cards and medical care. These services have been most in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Readiness Services welcome guests to make change in their lives as they develop more positive relationships with themselves and others. These drop-in programs include the Resource Center, where guests sign up for showers and receive toothbrushes, toothpaste and hygiene products or register for SNAP benefits, computer or phone time; the Women’s Center, a calm, safe space for female guests, because most women experiencing homelessness are also victims of domestic violence; Expressive Therapy Art Studio; and the Recovery Support Center for those in recovery from substance use.

Recovery Services offer individualized opportunities for guests to work toward their housing, income, and behavioral health stability goals. These include our workforce development programs, affordable housing search and stabilization services, and clinical and case management services.

Through these wraparound services, we offer everything a homeless individual needs to get their life back on track in one location during the day, when they may not be able to access these resources otherwise.

WHAT IMPACTS HAS YOUR ORGANIZATION MADE IN YOUR COMMUNITY THAT MAKE YOU PROUD TO BE A PART of st. francis house?

Every single day for over 35 years, St. Francis House has continually strived to support the needs of adults experiencing homelessness and poverty. We offer basic care and wraparound services that make the difference between hope and despair, and often between life and death, for many of our guests. Last year, we served over 7,000 of our neighbors in need. Our additional accomplishments, across our Refuge, Readiness, and Recovery Services, include:

REFUGE SERVICES

-Provided basic and emergency services to 4,382 unique guests, including: -168,916 healthy, nutritious meals for 3,797 guests -Clean changes of clothes for 1,580 guests -10,000 showers with towels and toiletries-Mailroom services for 1,221 guests -Mailroom services for 1,221 guests

READINESS SERVICES

-1,433 guests used our Resource Center -378 female guests visited our Women’s Center -101 guests engaged in expressive therapy in our Art Studio -469 members engaged with the Recovery Support Center

RECOVERY SERVICES -321 guests received clinical and case management services -207 guests received job and life skills training through our workforce development programs -319 guests received housing search and stabilization services, with 143 newly placed into housing -114 tenants were served by our own permanent supportive housing through the Next Step program and The Union, which are located in close proximity to our services in the heart of Downtown Boston

In the midst of historic challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are proud to have bolstered and expanded our programming to meet the unprecedented need for services among the most vulnerable in our community.

WHAT AREAS OF GROWTH DO YOU SEE FOR YOUR PROGRAM IN THE YEAR AHEAD?

Building on our longstanding history as a leader and innovator in addressing homelessness, St. Francis House is in the process of implementing strategic plans which will transform our programs and facilities to provide all of our guests the opportunity to reach their highest potential.

These plans include a deepening of our current services, development of critical new programs, and a complete renovation of the first three and sixth floors of our day shelter. The reason for our commitment to this strategic growth is simple - people who are experiencing homelessness face significant barriers to accessing basic services and treatment options that meet their unique needs, and St. Francis House aims to provide exceptional comprehensive solutions to help people thrive and achieve stability in housing, mental health and income maximization.

As we plan for the renovations to our building, we have committed to re-envision our interior spaces to better reflect our values and ethos. Architecture is not neutral - it either helps or it hurts people’s experiences. Our facility was built in 1912 and was originally designed as an impersonal office tower for Boston Edison. It is not suited to encourage recovery, and it lets too many people get lost in the chaos of homelessness. Simply put, the shelter spaces are at cross-purposes with the strategies and interventions we have designed to encourage hope and recovery. Remodeled interior spaces at St. Francis House will create an environment that is open, accessible, and promotes healing, wellness, and personal connection, all of which are critical components to building trust and moving our guests from Refuge to Recovery Services.

With this transformation, we will provide more people with quality, solutions oriented services, moving an additional 1,000 guests a year beyond Refuge services, into our Readiness services, and on a pathway to recovery and stability. We will also ensure an additional 300 guests each year take positive and planful steps into our Recovery programs, and double the number of guests who achieve housing, income, and behavioral health stability outcomes annually to 400.