The Center for the Homeless

Founded 1988 — dedicated that November, made round-the-clock by fire that December

Founding: The Center for the Homeless was founded in 1988 by Father Edward "Monk" Malloy, the president of the University of Notre Dame, together with city and business leaders — the founding account is Notre Dame Magazine's, and the Center's own materials agree in substance. The university contributed 1,000,000 dollars to buy and renovate the former Gilbert's men's store on South Michigan Street and leased it to the Center for one dollar a year. The work had an immediate predecessor: Father David Link and D'Arcy Chisholm had been running a shelter in the basement of the Maranatha Temple. The Center was dedicated in November 1988 and opened at first for nights only. Its own text dates its opening to December 1988, and the reason is the fire: one month after the dedication, the Morningside Hotel fire killed one person and displaced more than a hundred, and the Center went to twenty-four-hour operation to take them in. The November dedication and the December opening both print; the fire explains them.

Course: The Center's own figures claim more than 45,000 people served, more than 700,000 safe nights, and more than 1,500,000 meals — its arithmetic, printed as its own. Its early years were hard: Lou Nanni became executive director in the early 1990s as the fifth director in two years, with the Center 100,000 dollars in debt, and steadied it. The Robert L. Miller Sr. Veterans Center stands on its campus — that record belongs to Veterans. Notre Dame's World Masterpieces Seminar has met at the Center since 1998, students and guests reading the same books in the same room. Steve Camilleri is the executive director in the current public record. In 2020 the Center launched the New Day Intake Center, described in Today's Catholic of November 2026 as the only low-barrier homeless shelter in northern Indiana, and undertook an 18,800,000-dollar capital campaign — more than half raised at that account — toward a purpose-built site on Old Cleveland Road on the far west side, with construction planned to begin in 2025 in that reporting. The plan prints as reported; its completion belongs to the update cycles.

Sources:

1. Notre Dame Magazine — the 1988 founding by Fr. Edward Malloy and city and business leaders; the university's 1,000,000 dollars and the Gilbert's store; the one-dollar lease; the Maranatha Temple basement shelter of Fr. David Link and D'Arcy Chisholm; the November 1988 dedication; the Morningside Hotel fire; Lou Nanni's directorship and the 100,000-dollar debt; the seminar since 1998.
2. Center for the Homeless, organizational text (via Charity Navigator) — the December 1988 opening; 45,000 people served, 700,000 safe nights, 1,500,000 meals, as the Center's own figures.
3. Today's Catholic, November 2026 — the New Day Intake Center, launched 2020; the only low-barrier shelter in northern Indiana; the 18,800,000-dollar campaign, more than half raised; the Old Cleveland Road plan.