Pope Francis Center

About the Pope Francis Center

Located in the heart of downtown Detroit, the Pope Francis Center provides vital services to the city’s homeless population.  The Center operates five days a week, providing two nutritious, homemade meals each day. Guests can take showers, do laundry, and enjoy a safe, comfortable place to take shelter from the elements. In addition to these daily services, the Center offers free clinics that provide medical care, legal aid, dental care, sobriety support, bike repairs, foot care, and housing assistance. 

Pope Francis Center, which has served the city’s most vulnerable population for 30 years, has a goal of eradicating chronic homelessness from Detroit by 2030. The centerpiece of that plan is a 40-unit Bridge Housing Center that will deliver trauma-informed care involving intensive medical, respite, psychological, addiction, social and job-readiness services designed to break the cycles of chronic homelessness. 

Pope Francis Center staff will help guests gather documentation needed to qualify for and access permanent housing solutions. When guests are psychologically and practically ready, they will transition into permanent supportive housing.

The proposed facility will feature a cafeteria, gymnasium, library, classrooms and health clinic. In addition to providing individuals with a safe place to create a better future for themselves, plans call for making many of the facility’s services such as a medical clinic and job training available to surrounding neighborhood residents.

In April 2021, Pope Francis Center announced a $7 million donation — its largest single gift ever — toward the Bridge Housing Center. The donation from the California-based Julia Burke Foundation means that Pope Francis Center has raised $15 million of the $22 million it needs to build and launch the facility.