St Katherine Drexel Place Senior Housing begins construction.

Congratulations to Catholic Housing and Community Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for the recent groundbreaking at St Katherine Drexel Place. It took place in the fall of 2025. Construction is expected to be completed by late fall of 2026.  

St. Katharine Drexel Place will be an affordable housing development for seniors 62 years and older in a repurposed friary with a large addition in the rear. CHCS will provide services at the new development, a continuum of on-site supportive services, including case management, health services, and recreational activities.  

CHCS will provide these services by agreement with a network of collaborative partnerships. For example, CHCS has an agreement with Fox Rehab to provide on-site Physical and Occupational Therapy to the residents. They have also established a partnership with the nearby high school for intergenerational programming. All of these supports and services mean that seniors will be supported emotionally as well as physically, so that the residents age with dignity and care.  

All units are subsidized by the Philadelphia Housing Authority with funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the Faircloth-to-RAD (Restore-Rebuild) program. This is a HUD funding mechanism that enables Public Housing Authorities to create new affordable housing and provide long-term Section 8 rental assistance, ensuring stable funding that keeps rents affordable for residents. 

The development received Low Income Housing Tax Credits under the category of Health for Housing in partnership with Trinity Health and is one of the first of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s Health for Housing Initiative projects to close. RHLS Staff Attorney Kathryn Oates provided limited services to the project, drafting the construction and architect’s contracts. 

The 3-story friary building will be rehabbed, and there will be construction of a 3-story addition on what is a mostly unused parking lot. It is beautiful to use older religious buildings as housing. Religious commitment emphasizes a life of service. Churches and large residence halls, such as friaries, fall out of use, so it is lovely to see them continue to serve the community as housing for seniors.  

Katharine Drexel was an American Catholic religious sister and educator. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000, only the second person born in the United States to be declared a saint and the first who was born a U.S. citizen. Katherine became a nun in 1889. In 1891, she founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, a religious congregation serving Black and Indigenous Americans. She led a long life of service in this region. The Drexel family name is important in Philadelphia; they were a wealthy banking family, and Katherine Drexel’s uncle founded Drexel University.  

For more information on St Katherine Drexel Place and other properties run by Catholic Housing and Community Services, you can visit their website: chcsphiladelphia.org/senior-housing.  

You can also contact their Senior Help Hotline for helpful information on senior programs, including skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, continuous life care communities, in-home support, senior housing, senior centers, senior clubs, and more.   

Senior Help Line: 1-888-679-7669 or chcsinfo@chs-adphila.org