Housing as Healing: Vincent’s Homes and Depaul USA team up in Philadelphia.

Housing as Healing: Vincent’s Homes and Depaul USA team up in Philadelphia.

Nestled within a larger religious campus in a quiet neighborhood at the edge of Philadelphia, the small former convent sits surrounded by trees. It is an unexpected oasis largely unseen by the passing traffic on the nearest street. The peaceful home has given its residents, all formerly homeless men who have struggled with addiction, the space to heal and move forward with their lives.

This space came from a collaboration between two related faith-based organizations, Vincent’s Homes and Depaul USA, that center their ministry on the most vulnerable people by providing long-term, stable housing. They are both a part of the Vincentian order of the Catholic Church. RHLS Executive Director Dina Schlossberg represented Vincent’s Homes in the lease negotiation with Depaul as part of our commitment to service to organizations that serve formerly homeless households, especially those impacted by the carceral system. 

Vincent’s Homes was founded in 2020 as part of a global commitment by the Vincentian Congregation to address homelessness. The call to action by the Vincentians for every congregation to build 13 houses for the homeless harkens back to the story of St. Vincent de Paul building 13 houses in Paris for homeless refugees in the 17^th Century. The organization is part of a global movement to end homelessness that began in 2017, when the Vincentian Family launched the FamVin Homeless Alliance (FHA) to mark the 400th anniversary of the Vincentian way of life. In more than 150 countries, the FHA works to unite Vincentian organizations around practical solutions and systemic change for the 1.2 billion people worldwide who lack a safe place to call home.

Vincent’s Homes’ mission is to provide affordable housing for individuals and families with limited financial resources in Germantown and the surrounding neighborhoods. It does this, in the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul, with deep concern for the well-being of their residents, offering them holistic services that promote health, wellness, stability, and economic mobility.

Depaul USA is an international organization, also in the Vincentian tradition, that came to Philadelphia in 2009 to serve the poor. The Depaul House was first opened in the Germantown neighborhood in 2015 to provide supportive transitional housing to people as part of its mission to end homelessness and change the lives of those impacted by it.

Depaul USA relocated the program from its previous building in Germantown, which was no longer suitable for it, to its new location at the former convent that Vincent’s Homes owns. RHLS’s assistance with the lease negotiation helped the two organizations, which can now provide a new location for the Depaul House program, which Depaul USA runs.

Here is Tomato, the cat. He lives in Depaul House and enjoys back scratches.