Newark Will Get $8M ‘Safe Haven’ For Chronically Homeless, New Jersey’s ‘First’

NEWARK, NJ — Essex County is set to welcome what developers are calling the first "safe haven" housing facility for chronically homeless people with severe mental illnesses to its new home in Newark next year.

A ceremonial groundbreaking event will take place on Wednesday for the $8 million facility, dubbed “A Better Life” by the project’s stakeholders. When complete, the two-story, 24,063-square foot building at 93-101 Fourteenth Avenue will have 24 efficiency studio apartments, communal spaces designed to foster engagement and a unit designated for a superintendent who will be “on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” city officials stated in a news release.

The facility will be New Jersey’s first HUD “safe haven” model, according to project developer New Community Corporation.

“A safe haven is a form of permanent supportive housing funded and administered under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s McKinney Vento Supportive Housing Program, which targets hard to reach homeless individuals with severe mental illness, substance abuse and other health and behavioral conditions, and have been unable or unwilling to participate in supportive services,” the organization stated.

According to developers, the supportive housing project aims to reduce the burden placed on the emergency care system at University Hospital. To help reach this goal, the hospital will identify high utilizers of emergency care and provide referrals to staff at A Better Life for review and placement.

Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care will be the primary service provider, and New Community will provide property management, maintenance, security and an on-site supervisor, developers stated.

Funding sources for the project include the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, an affiliate of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Red Stone Equity Partners, Essex County HOME Program, Newark HOME Program, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York. The project is designed by LWDMR Architects, an architecture, urban design and engineering firm located in Jersey City and Millville.

The project is slated for completion by June of 2017.

Artist Rendering: New Community Corporation

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