Boston’s St. Francis House offers Christmas spirit, prepares for affordable housing project

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Catching some downtime inside St. Francis House on Sunday, Karen LaFrazia took in the Christmas spirit that filled the homeless shelter’s kitchen and dining room.

LaFrazia, the agency’s president and CEO, watched 350 guests enjoy plates full of stuffed chicken breast, butternut squash, mashed potatoes and string beans. Roughly 30 volunteers served the meals restaurant style during St. Francis House’s annual Christmas Day lunch.

“The thing that fills me with warmth is when I look at the people who are housed and the people who are unhoused, there’s real fellowship happening,” LaFrazia said. “The folks who are coming here are the same as anyone who lives in any neighborhood around the Commonwealth. They’d be great neighbors.”

Sooner than later, guests will get a chance to become neighbors.

St. Francis House will be breaking ground on a 19-story, 126-unit affordable housing building on Lagrange Street, at the crossroads of Chinatown and Downtown Crossing, by late spring.

Seventy units will be for people who are coming out of homelessness, while the remainder will be used to prevent people becoming homeless, LaFrazia said. The units, including studios and 1- and 2-bedrooms, will range in price from extremely low-income to market rate.

“Wouldn’t it be the best Christmas present, the best New Year’s gift, that they woke up in their own bed next Christmas, they’d cook their own Christmas meal, invite their own family and friends to their home?” she asked. “That’s my Christmas wish. Every single one of these men and women deserve their own place to live.”

Boston saw its homeless population decrease by 2.4% from last year to 1,545 individuals earlier this year, according to the city’s 42nd annual census released in June. The number of homeless families, however, had increased, from 843 to 929, the census shows.

Accessing affordable living quarters in the city is getting harder, too. The median price for a 1-bedroom rental is $3,060 in Boston, which leapfrogged San Francisco to be the second most expensive city in the country, according to an October report from Zumper.

St. Francis House staffers are looking to secure affordable apartments for 150 people within the next year, but LaFrazia said she expects the project her agency will be undertaking next year will bring more relief by increasing Boston’s sparse affordable housing stock.

“There just isn’t enough affordable housing,” she said. “You can send people to go look for it, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be there.”

Watertown resident Mel Powsner volunteered for the first time on Christmas with her aunt Judith Powsner, of Waltham, who has volunteered on the holiday a handful of times. They are Jewish and don’t celebrate Christmas, and they said they like serving because it means others can spend the day with their families.

“It doesn’t address the long-term problem of housing and food insecurity,” Judith Powsner said. “There really needs to be much more affordable housing in the Boston area. We hope the mayor is doing something about it.”

City resident Joseph Marrow spent Christmas afternoon feeling grateful for all that St. Francis House provides. The Vietnam War veteran left a Dorchester home he had been living in for about 10 years as it turned into a “drug house.”

After his departure, Marrow said he has turned to St. Francis House for assistance while he lives at a shelter provided through Pine Street Inn, another city-based homeless service agency. He expects to move into more permanent housing in January.

“St. Francis is a place where you can come and relax and get help,” Marrow said. “It means a whole lot.”

BOSTON, MA. Volunteer Cheryl Rogers, center, places a meal in front of client Colette Olcott, right, after delivering a dinner to Clement Morris, left, as Clients enjoy Christmas dinner, Sunday, December 25, 2022, during the annual Christmas meal served at St. Francis House on Boylston Street in downtown Boston. Enough food was prepared for around 350 meals. The meal consisted of baked stuffed chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans, plus pie for desert. St. Francis House President Karen LaFrazia, who has been in that role for 25 years, said the tradition started in 1985, when the facility first opened. St. Francis House provides both breakfast and lunch and a daytime shelter for their clients, many of whom are homeless and who sleep in nighttime shelters, LaFrazia said. (Photo by Jim Michaud/ Boston Herald)
Volunteer Cheryl Rogers, center, places a meal in front of Colette Olcott, right, after delivering a meal to Clement Morris at St. Francis House on Boylston Street. (Jim Michaud/Boston Herald)
BOSTON, MA. Clients enjoy their Christmas dinner, Sunday, December 25, 2022, during the annual Christmas meal served at St. Francis House on Boylston Street in downtown Boston. Enough food was prepared for around 350 meals. The meal consisted of baked stuffed chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans, plus pie for desert. St. Francis House President Karen LaFrazia, who has been in that role for 25 years, said the tradition started in 1985, when the facility first opened. St. Francis House provides both breakfast and lunch and a daytime shelter for their clients, many of whom are homeless and who sleep in nighttime shelters, LaFrazia said. (Photo by Jim Michaud/ Boston Herald)
More than 300 meals were served at the annual Christmas lunch at St. Francis House. (Jim Michaud/Boston Herald)
BOSTON, MA. Volunteers work preparing meals, Sunday, December 25, 2022, during the annual Christmas meal served at St. Francis House on Boylston Street in downtown Boston. Enough food was prepared for around 350 meals. The meal consisted of baked stuffed chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans, plus pie for desert. St. Francis House President Karen LaFrazia, who has been in that role for 25 years, said the tradition started in 1985, when the facility first opened. St. Francis House provides both breakfast and lunch and a daytime shelter for their clients, many of whom are homeless and who sleep in nighttime shelters, LaFrazia said. (Photo by Jim Michaud/ Boston Herald)
Volunteers work preparing meals during the annual Christmas lunch at St. Francis House in Boston. (Jim Michaud/Boston Herald)
BOSTON, MA. Sunday, Judy Lam of Boston, hands over a completed meal to another volunteer to deliver to a client, Sunday, December 25, 2022, during the annual Christmas meal served at St. Francis House on Boylston Street in downtown Boston. Enough food was prepared for around 350 meals. The meal consisted of baked stuffed chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans, plus pie for desert. St. Francis House President Karen LaFrazia, who has been in that role for 25 years, said the tradition started in 1985, when the facility first opened. St. Francis House provides both breakfast and lunch and a daytime shelter for their clients, many of whom are homeless and who sleep in nighttime shelters, LaFrazia said. (Photo by Jim Michaud/ Boston Herald)
Judy Lam of Boston hands over a completed meal to another volunteer at the annual Christmas lunch. (Jim Michaud/Boston Herald)
BOSTON, MA. A meal is handed over from a volunteer to a client, Sunday, December 25, 2022, during the annual Christmas meal served at St. Francis House on Boylston Street in downtown Boston. Enough food was prepared for around 350 meals. The meal consisted of baked stuffed chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans, plus pie for desert. St. Francis House President Karen LaFrazia, who has been in that role for 25 years, said the tradition started in 1985, when the facility first opened. St. Francis House provides both breakfast and lunch and a daytime shelter for their clients, many of whom are homeless and who sleep in nighttime shelters, LaFrazia said. (Photo by Jim Michaud/ Boston Herald)

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