A 1896 Victorian-style house in the Wilson Historic District will be converted into a hospice house, providing end-of-life care for homeless individuals in Dallas at no cost.
The Visiting Nurse Association of Texas is a 91-year-old nonprofit organization that provides home-delivered meals free of charge to individuals unable to obtain or prepare their own meals and offers home health, hospice, and community health services. The association has partnered with The Meadows Foundation to bring the project to life.
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Dallas is the largest city in the country without a program that provides these types of services for the unhoused population or those who don’t have a safe place to receive end-of-life care.
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Chris Culak, CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association of Texas, said the organization has been discussing the opening of this type of space for approximately 10 years. Location was a challenge until the Meadows Foundation stepped up and agreed to provide the space in Old East Dallas at no cost.
Chris Culak, CEO and President of Visiting Nurses Association is photographed inside Katherine’s House, a new hospice house for homeless in need of its services at 2800 Swiss Avenue in Dallas. A tour and photos were taken on October 28, 2025.
Steve Hamm / Special Contributor
The Wilson Historic District comprises more than 20 homes owned by the Meadows Foundation, which provides rent-free office space to nonprofits.
“The idea here is to provide a place for people seeking end-of-life care services, but who don’t have a place to live,” Culak said. “A good majority of them will be homeless, some of them will be folks who just don’t have a safe place to go home to, maybe they don’t have a caregiver, or they don’t have access to a proper space to live in while they’re on hospice care. That’s what this facility will be.”
The $5 million project is scheduled to kick off renovations at the home in January 2026, and the organization plans to admit its first patients in the first quarter of 2027.
The organization is privately funding the project and does not receive money from the city of Dallas. The Visiting Nurses Association works closely with organizations that serve the homeless population, such as Our Calling, Austin Bridge and The Salvation Army of North Texas, as well as Baylor Hospital, to receive referrals.
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Culak said they looked into how the Malachi House, a hospice care provider in Ohio, has been providing end-of-life care for those without a place to go since 1986, serving as a role model for Dallas.
The Visiting Nurse Association plans to build a new hospice house for homeless in need of its services at 2800 Swiss Avenue in Dallas. A tour and photos of Katherine’s House were taken on October 28, 2025.
Steve Hamm / Special Contributor
This will be the first residential facility in North Texas designed for seriously ill individuals who cannot safely receive hospice care at home due to housing insecurity, lack of caregiver support or the absence of utilities and basic resources.
“This is something that’s needed; it’s really going to benefit our homeless neighbors and friends, and it’s going to benefit people who don’t have a safe place to live when they need this care,” Culak said. “But really, for VNA, it’s just an extension of who we are as an agency, because we firmly believe that everybody should have access to good quality hospice care.”
The Katherine House
The Katherine House, named after Katherine Krause, the former president and CEO of the Visiting Nurses Association, will accommodate five patients at a time for a two-week rotation. Each case will be treated differently.
The house will be a licensed assisted-living facility staffed 24/7. Services will include medical and nursing care, personal assistance from home health aides, social work support and access to an interdisciplinary care team consisting of a physician, case manager, social worker, volunteers and a chaplain.
The care is designed to ensure comfort, dignity, and comprehensive support for patients in their final stages of life. Katherine’s House will not serve pediatric patients — it is for adults only, said Jessica Austin, the association’s chief development and communications officer. Kirksey Architecture designed the project.
The organization aims to serve approximately 125 people annually. There will be four patient rooms, a living/dining room, a reception area, and a staff work area. Behind the house, the cottage will house the kitchen, laundry room and other amenities for staff to use.
“It’s really heartbreaking when you see someone who can’t be safely discharged to a place or they can’t go to a shelter, because they really can’t provide care like this in a shelter,” Austin said. “And it just is like a vicious cycle of admitting to the hospital and being discharged, and it’s not good for the hospital, for caregivers who want to provide this service where there’s no safe place, and it’s obviously the worst for the patient.”