Peter and Paul Community Services celebrated the expansion of their men’s emergency homeless shelter Thursday morning at a new community campus in the St. Louis Place neighborhood.
The shelter, previously known as the Peter and Paul shelter in Soulard, has been renamed the Jugan Shelter. It was named after Sister Jeanne Jugan from the Little Sisters of the Poor, a residence formerly housed at the facility that supported elderly and vulnerable populations in the 1800s.
In a room packed with dozens of stakeholders and city leaders, the Archdiocese of St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski prayed over the new 188,000 square foot community campus during the nonprofit’s state of the agency address on Thursday.
“Loving and merciful God, you are our shelter in every storm, our hope in every trial, and our companion on every journey,” Rozanski said. “We ask you to pour out your blessing upon this place, the Jugan shelter and all who enter its doors. May it be a home of welcome, of healing and dignity, where all are seen, loved and restored.”
PPCS purchased the 188,000 square foot community campus facility in spring 2024. The Jugan shelter itself has undergone a $1.3 million renovation, providing semi-private bed spaces for just over 100 men and featuring three isolation rooms.
The opening of the shelter at the new campus is the first phase of planned construction at the facility over the next three years — total renovations are expected to cost about $20 million.
The property features an eight-story tower, a commercial kitchen and dining room, 15 apartments, a 26-room convent, a large chapel, multiple parking lots, and private green space for residents.
45-year-old Lee Nash sat on a bed inside the shelter on Thursday. He said he’s taken refuge at PPCS shelters for the last three months.
“Staff, they pretty much do a good job on running the place and making sure we’re all safe and everything like that,” Nash said.
St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said she was honored to visit the campus in May as construction progressed.
“Not all shelters provide the level of privacy, care and case management that this one does, but offering these things is crucial and critical to helping the people that come through here,” Spencer said.
“The tornado really took our focus from the work we were doing. But that doesn't stop the need, so as we are not quite as far along in changing the way we think about homelessness and supporting the providers that do the hard work, like Peter and Paul, we are here for that work in the long term.”
The 55-year-old building still needs some plumbing and electrical updates, according to Chief Executive Officer Anthony D’Agostino.
“The veins of the building need work, but the structure is solid,” D’Agostino said. He said Ameren provided at least $90,000 for lighting upgrades, reducing monthly energy costs by nearly $5,000.
What’s most rewarding is being able to provide better amenities to clients after they spent years in a cramped church basement in Soulard, D’Agostino added.
“There were a lot of naysayers saying, like, you know, you’re creating individual space where people can have privacy [and] they can do things that they’re not supposed to do, right? All of us need privacy,” D’Agostino said.
“We cannot monitor everyone, 24/7. People have self-determination — you give them back their dignity and good things will happen.”
