St. Anthony Messenger: Housing First, Humanity Always

It was “one of those mornings.” Just moments before her interview with St. Anthony Messenger, Christina Byrne was dealing with a situation in the halls of Residence II on West 22nd Street in New York City. A worried resident had bolted downstairs to the front desk and shared that his neighbor was naked, screaming at someone who wasn’t there, and frantically moving all his belongings into the hallway. 

Byrne, the executive director of St. Francis Friends of the Poor (SFFP) since January 2020, had grown accustomed to these “episodes.” The scene, in fact, proved the opposite of what someone might think. It was actually a window into how the model of SFFP was working—that’s right, working: an example of communal living and the spirit of radical acceptance and nonjudgment that prevails as residents are mutually connected through the suffering they share...

Read the remainder of this feature in the April 2025 issue of the St. Anthony Messenger HERE. This is the fourth article in a series that shares stories of ministries or organizations that are doing healing work in the world. Click HERE to subscribe to the St. Anthony Messenger.