For nearly 50 years, St. Francis has quietly operated one of America\u2019s earliest examples of what is today known as permanent supportive housing. This model helps keep vulnerable populations more stable \u2014 out of jail and out of psychiatric institutions \u2014 by offering them a private room, paired with on-site psychiatric and medical care.<\/p>\n
\t\t![\"QR](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/app-download-block-qr-code.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tDownload the Straight Arrow app today to get the stories that matter free from manipulation, bias or agenda.\u2122\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tPoint phone camera here\t\t<\/p>\n
This approach attempts to correct what is seen as one of the nation\u2019s biggest public policy failures<\/a>: chronic homelessness and repeated jailing among people with severe mental illnesses. Unhoused people in the United States are 11 times<\/a> more likely to be arrested than someone with a roof over their heads, according to the Vera Institute of Justice.<\/p>\n The supportive housing model is significantly cheaper and, some say, more effective than incarceration. Locking someone up for a year in a New York City jail costs taxpayers $556,539.<\/a> Housing someone for a year at St. Francis: $33,000.<\/p>\n Still, the approach used by St. Francis and similar programs faces new uncertainty. Congress is considering cuts to both federal housing programs and Medicaid, both of which help cover the living expenses of people in these programs. President Donald Trump requested a $3.8 billion cut<\/a> from the Department of Housing and Urban Development\u2019s affordable housing, homelessness and community development programs, which the National Low Income Housing Coalition, an advocacy group, describes as vital.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n As cities and towns across America struggle with overcrowded jails, chronic homelessness and untreated mental illnesses, places like St. Francis<\/a> are increasingly viewed as an alternative or antidote to mass incarceration. Budget cuts, advocates say, could prove devastating for communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be devastating if all of these changes go through,\u201d John Betts, the deputy executive director of programs at St. Francis, told Straight Arrow, \u201cnot just to the supportive housing sector, but in general.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018A warm, welcoming home\u2019<\/p>\n After Will Hayes received care at Elmhurst,<\/a> a public hospital in Queens, New York, he had no place to go after being released.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was new to New York City because I\u2019m from Buffalo State,\u201d Hayes told Straight Arrow. \u201cI came down here to my uncle\u2019s and we had a disagreement and stuff. \u2026 Long story short, I was in a program inside the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n His caseworker\u2019s mother happened to be a psychiatrist at St. Francis. The day after he left the hospital, Hayes and his uncle visited a St. Francis residence in Chelsea. Hayes remembered the employees and residents as warm and welcoming. The following day, he was in.<\/p>\n \u201cTurns out\u2026 [I] fit the criteria,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cI introduced myself [to residents] and let them know that I\u2019m gonna be moving in tomorrow. One of the guys was Ronnie. He\u2019s passed away, but he grabbed me and gave me a big bear hug.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Hayes was shown his own private bedroom, with a twin bed, nightstand, desk and chair, closet, a place to hang his coats and hats, and a window.\u00a0<\/p>\n That was 12 years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been here ever since,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cIt feels very familiar here, like a warm, welcoming home, exciting, friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n Living at St. Francis\u00a0<\/p>\n At St. Francis, residents live off about $17 a day from their disability benefits. The employees of St. Francis help create a unique budget for each resident.<\/p>\n \u201cThey get a check at the beginning of the month and we deduct rent, any money for bills they may have, like phone bill, cable, et cetera, and then calculate their daily amount out of the remainder,\u201d Camilla Broderick, a program manager at St. Francis, told Straight Arrow.<\/p>\n About 300 people live across the three residences. A fourth residence will open in Harlem, with space for 100 more residents.<\/p>\n The average life span of St. Francis\u2019 tenants is 68 years \u2014 significantly longer than the 42 to 52 years<\/a> most unhoused people live.<\/p>\n Residents stay at St. Francis an average of 18 years.<\/a> Most leave only when they need a higher level of care. No resident has ever been evicted.<\/p>\n St. Francis provides a tiny fraction of the 62,000 supportive housing units<\/a> in New York City. It is unusual, though, in giving its residents permanent homes, rather than a temporary place to stay.<\/p>\n \u2018Big, thorny questions\u2019<\/p>\n St. Francis opened amid a widespread effort to shut down public psychiatric hospitals and deinstitutionalize their patients. The goal was to provide treatment in the communities where people with serious mental illness lived.<\/p>\n But that goal was not met.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe promise was that there would be community clinics to catch those people and provide support; that never materialized for political reasons,\u201d Betts, the deputy executive director at St. Francis, said. \u201cIn order to answer the question of why doesn\u2019t this exist at scale in the United States? You have to get into big, thorny questions\u2026 Money hasn\u2019t been invested as much as it should be in this kind of work.\u201d<\/p>\n As a result, he said, \u201cpeople who previously would\u2019ve potentially been in psychiatric institutions ended up in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n But in 1980, in a bustling corner of Chelsea, three friars from the Church of St. Francis saw these issues firsthand. They asked a simple question: What if people had a permanent home \u2014 with support?\u00a0<\/p>\n They opened the first of three buildings for St. Francis Friends of the Poor.\u00a0<\/p>\n The requirements for living at St. Francis: One must suffer from severe mental illness and have lived on the streets for many years. Most people who meet that requirement also qualify for government assistance, such as Medicaid or Medicare.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAcademic research proves<\/a> that expanding Medicaid leads to lower arrest rates across the board, and we know that supportive housing has also shown strong results<\/a> at keeping people out of jails,\u201d Wanda Bertram, a communications strategist at Prison Policy Initiative, told Straight Arrow.\u00a0<\/p>\n But without permanent shelter, people with serious mental illnesses wash in and out of jails, often on petty charges like trespassing, vagrancy or urinating in public. U.S. jails have become the largest providers of mental health services in the country; at New York\u2019s Rikers Island, for instance, at least 60% of prisoners require mental health<\/a> services. Across the country, local jails book about 205,000 unhoused people<\/a> each year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve turned to incarcerating and punishing individuals with mental illnesses, when really they could be thriving in the community,\u201d said Broderick, the St. Francis program manager. \u201cMore investment in permanent supportive housing could shift the tides in our overbloated jails.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/resident-with-artwork.jpg\")
Will Hayes, a St. Francis resident for 12 years, shows his artwork. Credit: Daniel Reardon\/Straight Arrow.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/artwork.jpg\")
Daniel Reardon\/Straight Arrow.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/watching-chinese-checkers.jpg\")
A St. Francis resident watches a game of Chinese checkers. Credit: Daniel Reardon\/Straight Arrow.<\/p>\n