Caritas Communities

CONTACT:

150 Wood Road, Suite #300
Braintree, MA 02184
1-781-843-1242 ext. 13
caritascommunities.org

Mark J. Winkeller, Ph.D., Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

Homelessness began to be noticed as a public problem in the early '80s, after Reagan administration cutbacks in federal support for social services. Since then, real estate prices have risen dramatically, one result of which has been that nearly 90% of Boston's lodging houses have been converted to condominiums or apartments — exacerbating homelessness among the working poor.

Philanthropy in Massachusetts was alert to homelessness early on, as the Catalogue has noted. P. Leo Corcoran, of the John M. Corcoran & Co. real estate firm, founded Caritas Communities in 1985 to address the need for affordable housing. Caritas purchases, renovates, and professionally manages, single-room occupancy (SRO) buildings, and is today the region's largest non-profit owner/manager of SROs, with 23 properties and 540 rooms. For about $115/week, residents enjoy their own furnished room, and share common kitchen and bathroom facilities. The average resident is 41 years old, earns $13,209 annually, and has lived there for 2.75 years; 1/4 are women; only 3% are unemployed. 20% of its rooms have project-based Section 8 contracts.

Caritas received the 2001 "Excellence in Affordable Housing" Award from the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation. You can help ensure that more of our working poor can live in dignity, in a safe, stable, affordable, and well-maintained building. This is a solid philanthropic investment.

(2001: HUMAN SERVICES: Well-Being)