People experiencing homelessness who need respite care following a hospital stay are easy to overlook. But that’s the population Joseph & Mary’s Home is serving.
Located on the grounds of a former Catholic grade school in the city’s Central neighborhood, Joseph & Mary’s Home provides temporary housing for people who need a space and time to recover. The facility, which has 11 beds for men and 10 beds for women, doesn’t provide medical treatment. It offers a private bed, meals, social work, medical and nursing supervision, and education about their conditions and medications.
“We see people without a lot of choices,” said Beth Graham, executive director of the Joseph & Mary’s Home. “Housing for our population is our healthcare.”
I toured Joseph & Mary’s Home this week because Signal Cleveland is examining many angles of the housing crisis through our ongoing series, the Housing Squeeze.
The average length of stay at the facility is 73 days, Graham said. A big part of the program’s work is trying to find permanent housing for people. Graham admits that finding housing, especially for low-income people, is tough. She noted she is seeing some landlords place larger hurdles, including double deposits, before potential renters as a way to keep some people out.
(Signal recently asked readers to share with us the “junk fees” and other obstacles being tact on to rent.)
The population experiencing homelessness is also aging, which adds a new level of complexity to finding housing options.
One of the ministries of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Augustine and the Sisters of Charity Health System, Joseph & Mary’s Home is about to begin construction to relocate and renovate a space for men on the grounds. Though Joseph & Mary’s Home is not adding additional beds, the new space will be fully handicapped accessible and easier to manage for the aging people it serves. With $1.95 million of its $2.5 million goal already in hand, Joseph & Mary’s Home expects to open the new facility next summer.
