Information on Sleeping and Hostel Program

Groups travelling to Washington, DC, for protests, conferences, service work, or other events are welcome to sleep at St. Stephen's Church. We offer sleeping space on our floors and a Hostel program.

Thrive DC, which operates a social service program in our building, operates the Hostel program, which is appropriate for smaller groups and for longer stays, as it includes showers and support from Thrive's staff.

Floor sleeping space is provided by St. Stephen's Church and is appropriate for stays of 1-3 nights for any size group. It's simply that: floor sleeping space.

You'll read more detailed information about each option further down this page.

Please read this page carefully. If you find that we offer what you are looking for, at the bottom of this page you can submit a request to sleep.

• All sleeping is on hard floors. Sleepers should bring mats or pads.
• We usually provide space to sleepers from late evening until early morning. Some evenings sleepers cannot enter until as late as 10pm, and some mornings sleepers must leave as early as 7am, depending on the building use schedule. If available, the dining room, auditorium, and church can be reserved for day or evening use for an extra fee.
• Groups that wish to sleep at St. Stephen’s need to designate one of their members to be their coordinator for sleeping at St. Stephen’s. We must be able to meet with this person in advance during normal office hours, and this person must be on site at all times group members are in the St. Stephen’s church building.
• We do not provide sleeping space for individuals; we only provide space to groups.
• We provide sleeping space to only one group or organization at a time.
• We may request that groups pay a security deposit prior to sleeping at the church.
• Groups that wish to use our space for sleeping must be committed to adhering strictly to non-violent protests. 
• People sleeping overnight cannot cook meals in the building, but arrangements can be made in advance to purchase meals for $4 each from Thrive DC.

Important Things to Know About Floor Sleeping Space
• Sleeping space does not include secure space for the storage of belongings during the day or showers; however, both of these are available through the Hostel program.
• Although we have sufficient floor space for hundreds of people to sleep (the largest group to sleep here in recent years was 550 people attending a climate change conference in March 2009), the limiting factor is ten toilets in five bathrooms.
• St. Stephen’s prefers to make arrangements directly with the organizers of a large event and not with many smaller groups attending the event.
• St. Stephen’s requests a donation of $5 per person per night.

Important Things to Know About the Hostel Program
• The hostel program is designed for smaller groups wishing to stay at St. Stephen's for more than 1-3 nights.
• The hostel program is run by Thrive DC, a social service program located at St. Stephen's.
• Hostelers can shower in the evenings.
• Hostelers can make use of limited space for the secure storage of belongings during the day.
• Thrive DC staff will help orient Hostelers to Washington DC and the work of Thrive and the other organizations in our building.
• Hostelers must pay a set fee for each night spent in the building; the fee ranges from $10-20 per person per night, depending on the size of the group.

If what we offer is of interest to you, here's what to do:
1) Check the calendar below to see if space is availalbe.
2) Read the basic rules, found below the calendar.
3) If we've got space, and what we provide works for you, fill out the sleeping request form at the bottom of this page, and we will respond via email.

1) Is Space Available?

Please check this calendar to see if another group has already booked space for the dates you are interested in. Please remember we only let one group at a time sleep in the building. (If you are attending an event for which sleeping space has already been booked by the event organizers, please be in touch with them, and not us, to make arrangements to sleep at St. Stephen's.)

2) Our basic rules for groups sleeping at St. Stephen's
• Alcoholic beverages may be consumed by special permission only.
• No illegal substances.
• No smoking in the building; if participants smoke outside, they must deposit trash in the dumpster and not leave cigarette butts on the ground.
• No open flames or cooking in the building.
• Participants must be considerate of others in the building and in the neighborhood and behave appropriately at all times, including being quiet when entering or leaving the building between 10pm and 8am.
• St. Stephen’s does not guarantee the safety of belongings left in the church, as the building is used by many people every day.
• Only street parking is available, as all parking lots in the vicinity of the church are privately owned; ticketing and towing are enforced both in the parking lots around the church and on neighborhood streets that have restricted parking.
• Groups sleeping at St. Stephen's are responsible for cleaning rooms – including bathrooms – sufficiently each morning for others to use during the day.

3) Submit a request to sleep at St. Stephen's Church

To request sleeping space, please complete the following information. We try to respond to requests Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.