A safe and structured living environment for homeless families that guides and supports them as they transition to new independent lives.

“At the York Street Project, you learn how to take care of yourself and that you can take care of yourself.”

– Robin, former St. Joseph’s Home Resident and former Board Member, St. Joseph’s Home

Facilities

Our Home, a five-story brownstone built and occupied by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace in 1891 and once operated as an orphanage, was renovated in 1988 to accommodate a transitional housing program for homeless women (18 years +) and their children (0-18 years of age). St. Joseph’s home provides supportive emergency shelter and transitional housing for parents  and their children.

At St. Joseph’s, each family gets their  own private bedroom space – with a lockable door. Families  share the common living space as well as responsibilities for the maintenance and governance of their floor, in preparation for the day when they will be living independently.

Our Housing Programs

Because there are many different needs, we have multiple types of programs to support our families.

Emergency Shelter-Bridge Housing for  families who are in immediate need of shelter. Many are fleeing domestic violence or unsafe living situations. This housing is intended to be short term while  we  assist them into an alternate housing situation.They typically stay with us  for 6 months or less and receive the same supportive services as our transitional housing families, just for a shorter period of time. We have the capacity to serve up to 11 families onsite in this type of housing.

NEW Pathways- Our maternity group home, is a transitional housing program for pregnant or parenting youth who are classified as homeless or runaways, 16-22 years old. There is a focus on positive youth development  and intensive supportive services to prepare these young families for self-sufficiency. This program launched in February 2020 and currently serves 7 families.

Hybrid Program- A combination of onsite transitional housing and off-site supportive housing  program. Families typically live onsite for up to 6 months. Once some of their barriers to housing have been addressed, families are transitioned to their own apartment in the community, where we continue to provide them with intensive supportive services and rental assistance. Families receive a total of 24 months of assistance between the onsite and offsite housing. Designed for families with higher needs and greater barriers than those served in our shelter, these families benefit from more time while they work to  gain stability to ensure success in transitioning to independent living. We have the capacity to serve up to 20 families in this program.

Rapid Rehousing- Rooted in the belief that housing, first and foremost, is essential to ending homelessness. Homeless families are eligible for this type of off site housing for up to two years. Because we know that homelessness is much more than just a housing problem, our Rapid Rehousing program pairs rental assistance with intensive supportive services,  such as case management, mental health, child care services, transportation assistance, life skills workshops, utility assistance and essentially anything that will help them achieve the goal of housing stability and independence. We serve up to 32 families at a time in this program.