Living with nuns: Priced out of D.C., young women found low rent with unlikely roommates

Former residents, current residents and friends of Anne Montgomery House begin a traditional Greek dance at the farewell celebration in Washington, D.C. on July 31, 2026. The community house, run by Society of the Sacred Heart, is closing after a decade. Charlotte Kesl for NPR hide caption

Sister Diane Roche sits on the front porch of Anne Montgomery House, smiling as she thinks back to opening the home a decade ago.

The house, located in Northeast Washington, D.C., has given young women an affordable place to live while they studied, completed fellowships or launched careers in one of the nation's most expensive cities.

"I'm 76 years old and running a house like this takes a lot of energy," Roche said. "Something inside me just said this is it."

Sister Diane Roche, 76, pictured on the front porch of Anne Montgomery House said she'll miss some of the daily rituals she shared with the home's younger residents. "They keep me young," she said. "You just become people together." Charlotte Kesl for NPR hide caption

It's one of several homes throughout the U.S. run by the Society of the Sacred Heart. As a member of the international religious order, Roche has worked in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, helped establish similar intentional living communities in St. Louis and New Orleans, and today works with a local office of Catholic Charities, helping refugees resettle in the U.S. Anne Montgomery House was simply the latest expression of a calling she says has shaped her entire adult life.

"Time after time, place after place, wherever I went, I would find a way to build a community," Roche said.

Anne Montgomery House is part of a broader housing trend emerging in expensive cities, in which early-career professionals are opting to live in Catholic-run homes that offer below-market rent.