D.C. Home Housing Young Women With Nuns Closes

Anne Montgomery House, a Catholic-run intentional community in Northeast Washington, D.C., closed its doors on July 31 after a decade of providing young women with an affordable place to live while they studied, completed fellowships, or launched careers in one of the nation’s most expensive cities. The home, run by the Society of the Sacred Heart, offered residents rooms at $500 per month for a shared space or $700 for a private room — far below the median rent of about $2,250 for a one-bedroom apartment in the capital, according to NPR.

A Community Built on Service

Sister Diane Roche, 76, founded and ran the house. A member of the Society of the Sacred Heart, an international congregation of Roman Catholic religious women, Roche has worked in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, helped establish similar intentional living communities in St. Louis and New Orleans, and currently works with Catholic Charities helping refugees resettle in the U.S.

“I’m 76 years old and running a house like this takes a lot of energy,” Roche told NPR. “Something inside me just said this is it.”

The home was named after Sister Anne Montgomery (1926-2012), a prominent peace activist who participated in Plowshares disarmament actions and served with Christian Peacemaker Teams in conflict zones around the world, according to the Society of the Sacred Heart. Montgomery was incarcerated multiple times for acts of nonviolent civil disobedience in protest of nuclear weapons, with her final Plowshares action taking place in 2009 when she was 83.

More Than Affordable Housing

For residents, the house offered far more than a low rent. Abigail Bulman, 23, arrived in January 2025 on a fellowship with an international public relations firm, expecting little more than a roof over her head.

“I thought this was going to be a place that we pray in the morning, I had chores to do, and then I was going to go to bed here,” Bulman said. “I had no idea they were going to be people that now have been my lifelong friends.”

Mary Gardner, 24, joined the home in summer 2024 while interning on Capitol Hill and preparing for her senior year at Catholic University. She described the community as a “safe haven” and credited Sister Clare Pratt, 86, with being a steady source of comfort during emotionally taxing days.

“I’d come home venting and angry or upset,” Gardner said. “But Sister Clare Pratt, she just listened.”

Funmilayo Erinfolami, a space physicist from Nigeria earning her Ph.D. and researching at NASA, said the women at the house “became my family.” She was still looking for an affordable place near her university when the house closed.

A Disappearing Housing Model

The closure highlights a broader challenge facing young adults across the country. Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies reported that a record 22.7 million renter households now spend more than 30% of their income on housing — the highest level ever recorded.

Ingrid Gould Ellen, a professor at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, told NPR that intentional living communities aren’t a large-scale fix for the housing shortage, but they can offer young adults stability, mentorship, and community alongside affordability.

“In the late 19th century and early 20th century, a large share of young adults in U.S. cities lived in boarding houses,” Ellen said. “We don’t have that option anymore.”

A Growing Trend in Expensive Cities

Anne Montgomery House was part of a broader trend emerging in expensive cities where early-career professionals are turning to Catholic-run homes for below-market rent. The Wall Street Journal reported in June that New Yorkers are increasingly living with nuns, with rooms at various residences ranging from approximately $580 to $1,650 per month, as tovima.com noted in its syndication of the story.

At Centro Maria in the Bronx, five sisters live alongside 21 residents, cooking breakfast each morning and hosting parties so residents can get to know each other. “I love living with the girls. They keep me young,” Sister Rita told the Journal. The trend has also been covered by The Hustle, which noted that boarding houses were once prevalent across the U.S. before zoning changes in the 1970s made them illegal or economically unviable.

The Last Night

As the sun set on Anne Montgomery House, former residents and friends gathered for one last celebration. Volunteers carried in trays of Creole dishes and barbecue, and a small group gathered around an acoustic guitarist singing “Amazing Grace” and “This Little Light of Mine.” Bulman joined Sister Roche in leading a traditional Greek circle dance through the house.

Roche said she will miss Friday nights watching Netflix with the young women and the daily rituals of communal living. “They keep me young,” she said. “You just become people together.”

But she does not see the move as retirement. She plans to keep working with refugees in Washington and hopes to eventually serve in Mexico or along the border.

“Nuns never retire,” she said.

Still, she acknowledged that an apartment and a home are not the same thing. “Home for me has to include community,” she said. After a decade of creating that community under one roof, Roche says she will now have to work at building it somewhere else.