The Archdiocese of Paris has begun building a centre for the homeless, the disabled and vulnerable mothers in the middle of the city’s most expensive district.

After winning a long legal struggle with wealthy residents of the 6th arrondissement, Archbishop Laurent Ulrich blessed the first stone of the House of the Visitation on 22 September. Opening is scheduled for 2027.

The property’s living quarters and garden, blocked off for two centuries behind high walls as the surrounding Left Bank area gentrified, will have public entries at both ends to let in the formerly excluded.

“Solidarity, which reflects the love of one’s neighbour, is at the heart of our faith,” the archbishop said. “We live too easily alongside one another, mixed in an indifference that signals individualism.”

The archdiocese inherited the football pitch-sized property in 2012 when a dwindling cloistered community, the Sisters of the Visitation, moved to a nearby convent of their congregation.

The five remaining nuns could have sold the property to investors for a small fortune but preferred that it be used for the Church project, as a sign of Gospel values.

In the ensuing years, prosperous residents and the Sites and Monuments heritage group mounted several attempts to block the project. Courts decided that the plans would restore much of the site and that the buildings to be demolished were not architecturally valuable.

A leading opponent, the celebrated actor Gerard Depardieu, pictured, owns a listed mansion overlooking the site. With his popularity damaged by sexual assault allegations that saw him listed in France’s sex offender registry, Depardieu has tried in vain for the past decade to sell his house.

The House of the Visitation, a property of over 7,000 square metres, will be rented to three associations, one working to reintegrate people living on the streets, a second housing expectant and young mothers in precarious situations, and a third providing inclusive housing for people with disabilities.

The tree-lined convent garden of 4,000 square metres will be turned into a public park – including a playground – between the high-end Rue du Cherche-Midi shopping street and the busy Rue de Vaugirard.

The chapel will be restored for use by the Church and about 100 planned residents. Some old housing will be modernised while a few buildings that Sites and Monuments fought for will give way to newer construction. There will also be a creche and two shops meant for residents.

The overall price of the project is €48 million, paid for by the archdiocese, donations, state aid and bank debt.

The headline over the archdiocesan announcement of the project was simple: “In Paris, charity has an address.”