One good building: A courtyard that offers dignity

In most coverage of the Pope Francis Center’s new Bridge Housing Campus, the courtyard only gets scant mention.

That feature is less of a big deal, it would seem, than other offerings at the new digs in Core City : 40 studio apartments for single, unhoused Detroit men, a commercial kitchen, classrooms, a barber shop, even a meditation room.

But it’s the courtyard that offers the most provocative ideas about meeting people’s basic needs. It is an example of putting human dignity at the center of a design project — and might lead to much more effective service.

Visitors and center residents can hang out in the outdoor space during the day. But it’s also designed for people who don’t find it possible to sleep indoors . Some may have had bad experiences at shelters, or be dealing with complicated mental health challenges.

The Rev. Tim McCabe directs the center. He and the architects at Fusco, Shaffer & Pappas designed the courtyard for people who are harder to keep safe, but no less deserving of safety.

“Radical compassion and love. That’s the secret sauce,” he said.

Pope Francis Center Bridge Housing Campus

• West Hancock Street

Address: 2915 W. Hancock St., Detroit

Architecture: Let’s call it dignity by design, the center was inspired by other shelters around the country and designed by Fusco, Shaffer & Pappas, Inc.

History: The Pope Francis Center has been providing services to unhoused people in Detroit for more than 30 years downtown at 438 St. Antoine. The organization began building the Bridge Housing Campus in 2022 to offer longer-term shelter and additional wraparound services.

Show and tell: Email aaron@outliermedia.org to share a building you’re curious about, and we’ll dig into its history.

The cement underfoot has radiant heating, and there are more heaters overhead against the walls. The heat will make it possible for people to sleep in the courtyard in the winter without freezing to death. McCabe has previously said the design was inspired by service centers in San Antonio and Los Angeles that were designed to keep people cool while staying outdoors, and by his desire to help keep people from dying on the streets.

“That’s an unfortunate job I had, which was to give funerals for people who died outside, on our streets, from homelessness,” McCabe said.

Four bathrooms and showers surround the courtyard, so residents can maintain their dignity and hygiene even if they sleep outside. The design elements and ethos are not shying away from people with different, maybe more challenging, circumstances.

Getting an accurate count of unhoused people is difficult, and Detroit’s statistics are a few years old, but the number was around 8,500 for 2022 . Nationally, about one in 500 people faced homelessness last year .

McCabe is a Jesuit, and the aspirations of the courtyard design are very Jesuit, too. Pope Francis, who is also a member of the order, is the center’s namesake. The Jesuits’ ideas about dignity are at the core of their social teachings.

“A just society can become a reality only when it is based on respect of the transcendent dignity of the human person,” the teachings go .

There are rules at the Bridge Housing Campus, and in the courtyard, to honor the boundaries of both the center and its clients. But in a simple yet radical move, punishment is not part of the model.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue an opinion by the end of the month in a case called Grants Pass v. Johnson. The court will decide whether cities can make rules that criminalize sleeping on the streets . A law in the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, punishes people with fines and jail time if they are caught sleeping outside with blankets, pillows or cardboard boxes.

Detroit seems unlikely to follow such hard-line tactics. The city is instead in the middle of a strategic planning process to reduce homelessness across the city, and an advisory board of formerly unhoused people is part of the process. Detroit also contributed $3 million in city funds to the $40 million Bridge Housing Campus. The facility will be able to serve between 100 and 120 people a day initially and is expected to open to clients this summer. The downtown Pope Francis Center will continue to provide meals, laundry and showers as well as medical, dental and legal clinics to another 250 people.

One good building: A courtyard that offers dignity · Outlier Media