When I arrived at the Pope Francis Center in downtown Detroit in 2015, our focus was on providing food and a space for respite for our friends experiencing homelessness. I quickly realized that while providing immediate relief is critical to staying alive, we were not doing enough to make a significant impact on people’s ability to become and stay housed. After mourning the deaths of a number of our guests who died unnecessarily on our city streets, we knew it didn’t have to be this way. We began to imagine something different. We could do something new – we could offer new solutions to old problems.
I traveled the country and looked at 27 different programs in 11 different cities to learn and benchmark best practices on who was being most effective on treating chronic homelessness. This research helped to form and launch our vision of the Bridge Housing Campus (BHC), a holistic, first of its kind, trauma-informed approach to ending chronic homelessness in our city.
We opened the doors and welcomed our first residents to live at the BHC in Fall 2024. Residents who live in one of the campus’ 40 studio apartments receive an individualized treatment plan created to provide them with the tools they need to overcome the many complex challenges they face. They have access to a full scope of resources — a free health clinic, job readiness classes, a full-size gym, a commercial kitchen, a community of caring people — all in a single location that was designed specifically for them. Residents will live at BHC for 90-120 days while they stabilize and work with our team to navigate the next steps to become and stay housed after leaving our care.
We can’t do this work without the support of the public, private and individual members of our community who envision a better future for the poor and marginalized in Detroit. And that is when we see the real power of innovation — people and institutions aligning around a fresh idea to bring about meaningful change.
Our goal is to end chronic homelessness in Detroit. I know we can do it because this city has met challenges before through innovation, partnership and immense care for one another. Our doors are open, and the real work has just begun.
God bless,
Fr. Tim McCabe,
