As the coronavirus dominates the news cycle and causes wrenching change in our daily living, Assisi House continues to provide housing and support for the residents of our four houses. We are blessed that our residents are virus-free to this point.
Our support to our residents has changed dramatically over the past three weeks. First, we are emphasizing personal and communal hygiene practices, and our residents are responding positively to these changes. Second, we are working harder to provide food for our residents, both by expanding our access to food pantries and by purchasing groceries for delivery to the houses. Third, we are reassuring our people that they will not lose their homes due to inability to pay rent.
A crisis of this kind affects the poorest and most vulnerable first and most severely. The types of employment available to our residents either disappears or becomes riskier in terms of exposure to infection. As always, we encourage and support our residents in seeking jobs, but with the concern that they should not put themselves in danger of infection.
In normal times, we would be citing all of the good news about the successful opening of Assisi 6 and the accomplishments of our new staff members. But this update is simply to let you know that we are still functioning at full capacity. We plan to continue serving as a home to 50 people in the four houses we manage directly (two others are managed by Gateway Housing First) into the foreseeable future, with improved services to our residents and additional support during this present crisis.
We expect revenues to decline sharply starting this month, and expenses are increasing as we make sure our unemployed residents don’t go hungry. Fortunately, we have some financial reserves to cushion the blow, but we will need your support as the pandemic deepens and broadens over the coming weeks and months. For those in position to do so, we invite you to provide support via mail addressed to "Assisi House" at 462 N Taylor Ave. Ste. 206, St. Louis MO 6310.
Sincerely,
Assisi House Board and Staff