Residency at BHFH
Find your home and build community in downtown Boston.
Beacon Hill Friends House is home to a 22-adult residential community rooted in Quaker values — built around shared meals, shared responsibility, and real, practical transformation.
It's a unique opportunity to make connections, build skills, and learn about yourself while living in the heart of the city.
Learn about residency openings first:
Get on our prospective resident email list.
At a Glance
Location: Beacon Hill, downtown Boston (walkable, transit-friendly, city-in-your-front-yard energy)
Community size: ~21 adults
Room types: mix of single + double rooms
Cost: $1032–$1183/month rent per person + $572/month board
What board covers: all utilities, a fully stocked vegetarian kitchen, and 5 house dinners/week cooked by our Resident Chef
Financial aid:
up to 15% available (supported by residents + alumni)
Application review:
rolling basis, as vacancies are known
The Mission of Beacon Hill Friends House is:
To embody the Quaker principles of faith, simplicity, integrity, community and social responsibility in order to nurture and call forth the Light in all of us.
A downtown Boston life that connects and changes you
BHFH isn't just a place to live — it's shared meals, shared governance, shared work, shared care, and built in quiet and reflection to notice what’s alive in you and in the world.
Three things residents consistently get here:
- Boston at your doorstep + a home base that’s calmer and more grounded than the city’s pace
- Food that makes community inevitable (regular dinners mean we connect naturally)
- A genuinely formative experience: skills in collaboration, conflict integrity, leadership, and living closer to your values
Ready to explore residency?
The Residency Program
The Friends House is a place for people to grow and deepen, whether you attend one public event, or you live here for four years. Our full-time residents have the deepest opportunity for engagement here, and thus the deepest opportunity for growth.
What residency is
Residency is one of Beacon Hill Friends House’s core programs: a full-time living experience designed for people who want community, connection, responsibility, and growth, whether you’re new to Quaker practice and community living or already steeped in it.
Since Beacon Hill Friends House opened its doors in 1957, the residency program has been our flagship offering — a living experiment in Quaker values at the heart of downtown Boston.
Conceived as a place where people from many backgrounds could live together simply, intentionally, and in shared responsibility, the program has welcomed generations of residents drawn to cooperative living, spiritual seeking, and public service. Rooted in daily rhythms of shared meals, work, and personal/spiritual deepening, the residency has long served as a formative home for students, activists, professionals, and seekers, offering not just housing, but a way of life shaped by community, integrity, and care for the common good.
What life looks like week to week
The rhythm:

- Shared dinners five nights/week (Sunday–Thursday)
- House Meeting twice monthly
- Committees + shared responsibilities
- Work Days twice a year + Retreats twice a year
Food that builds the community
Shared food and meals is a core part of the residency experience
- The kitchen is fully stocked for residents to make breakfast/lunch.
- A Resident Chef prepares a vegetarian dinner five nights/week, with a meat option about once a week.
- Dinners are a key community practice; if your schedule regularly keeps you away more than two nights/week, you’ll want to talk about that in the interview.
- The menu shifts with each cohort, within what a shared kitchen can reasonably support.
What you’ll get out of residency
BHFH is a place for growth and deepening. Residents leave here with real capacity.
The house explicitly supports growth in three areas:
Community & Service
Hospitality, living with difference, and proximity to networks of organizing and public programming moving through the house.
Cooperation & Collaboration
Mentorship for new residents, committee work, facilitation/clerking opportunities, and hands-on collective care of a complex old building.
Personal & Spiritual Growth
A community spanning faith and non-faith backgrounds, exposure to Quaker tools (including centering silence), and a yearly reflection process using queries.
Responsibilities
Cost, financial aid, and practical notes
Cost
- Rent: $1032–$1183/month per person (increases happen in July)
- Board: $572/month (utilities + stocked kitchen + Resident Chef dinners)
- Financial aid: up to 15% available with self-reported need
A quick note on animals
There are currently a few small support animals living in the house. Reach out with concerns, questions, or allergies.
How to Apply
Application process
We review applications on a rolling basis as vacancies are known.
Step 1: Review this page + familiarize yourself with life at the house
Step 2: Complete the online application form
Step 3: We will reach out to confirm receipt and answer any questions you have
Step 4: Our residency committee will review your application and our current vacancies, and decide whether to invite you to an interview
Step 5: Interview if invited
Step 6: The residency committee will make an admissions decision (typically within 1 - 2 weeks after the interview)
Questions? Email
admissions@bhfh.org
Want more details?
It’s hard to capture community in words. For deeper expectations, policies, and the realities of shared living, check out these posts:
Come live in downtown Boston with people who are invested in community and transformation.
Where we are
Beacon Hill Friends House
6 & 8 Chestnut St., Boston, MA 02108
A rare combination: neighborhood quiet and city immediacy — steps from downtown Boston, public transit, and the everyday walkability that makes life feel bigger.
