Catholic hospital system grants help local agencies offer healthcare, housing for homeless

Clients of the Magnificat Houses Inc. receive free health screenings and testing thanks to a new grant from CommonSpirit, through Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. (Photo by Magnificat Houses Inc.)HOUSTON — Far-reaching Magnificat Houses Inc., a Catholic nonprofit, recently received a grant from CommonSpirit, Community Health Improvement Grant through Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. The organization operates five homes in midtown Houston and 10 other homes in areas near downtown, which house up to 105 people in need each night. On any given day, Magnificat serves more than 400 people through a combination of housing, St. Joseph’s Clubhouse and RoseMary’s Place.  

Magnificat Houses Executive Director Maureen Sanders said the $95,000 grant provides a partnership with the University of Houston College of Nursing and College of Optometry for medical staff to administer required tuberculosis (TB) tests, as well as primary care and eye care.  

“A homeless person who needs to enter a shelter is required to have a TB test that we offer at no cost to them,” Sanders said. “The clients that come to us for shelter and services can go to the clinic that the University of Houston College of Nursing runs in a building near Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church on Fannin Street. This is simple to navigate for the clients as it is on the Metro rail, and the grant also provides transportation funding for bus and rail passes.” 

Fawn Preuss, regional director of Community Health and Benefits for CommonSpirit Health, said Magnificat is one of 32 organizations in the region that were awarded a total of $1.5 million in Texas in 2025.   

Individual hospitals focus on community organizations helping those in need to lessen disparities and create collaboration with partnerships, she said.  

“Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, located in the Texas Medical Center, is home to some of the world’s most advanced health care,” Preuss said. “Yet right outside our doors, many of our most vulnerable neighbors face significant health disparities.  

“Through the Community Health Improvement Grants program, we have an opportunity to give back — supporting community partners who are working every day to close those gaps and improve the well-being of all,” Preuss said.  

About 70% of Magnificat’s clients are men and 30% women, Sanders said, including Jarvis Jones, released from incarceration this summer and hoping for a fresh start, and Sade Latrice Dawkins, who said she sought a transition from homelessness to employment. Days later, with help from Magnificat, Jones secured a job with Labor Construction, and Dawkins began working at Chick-fil-A with community support.  

Magnificat Houses Inc. housing and admission’s office recently expanded with its Guest Advancement Center at 1410 Elgin St., replacing where its Mustard Seed Thrift Store had previously been, Preuss said. This expansion allows the organization to begin serving the more than 200 homeless individuals who are on a consistent wait list for housing.  

Another major Magnificat partnership includes a new four-story apartment building, opened this year, called RoseMary’s Place in honor of the late Rose Mary Badami, founder of Magnificat Houses Inc., that included funding from both the City of Houston and Harris County Housing & Community Development.  

Among the other local community organizations that received CommonSpirit Health Improvement grants from St. Luke’s this year was Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, which helps hundreds of people in need seeking mental health services.  
The agency received a total of $150,000 in grant funding from St. Luke’s Health-The Woodlands Hospital and Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center.   

For more information on Magnificat Houses Inc., go to www.mhihouston.org, and for Catholic Charities, go to www.catholiccharities.org.