Breaking Ground on Gloria Casarez Residence - 30 units of LGBTQ-friendly homes for young adults

On December 6, Project HOME will make history and break ground on Gloria Casarez Residence, a four-story, 36,547 square-foot new construction. 30 LGBTQ friendly affordable homes will be built for young adults (ages 18-23 at entry) who are homeless, have experienced or are at risk of homelessness, including those aging out of foster care. This is the first permanent supportive housing of this kind in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and among the first in the nation. It is the first of two planned residences to be built on this site.

Nationally, young adult homelessness is on the rise and an estimated 40% of homeless young adults identify as LGBTQ. Through the Neubauer Catalyst for Young Adults Program, Project HOME currently serves more than 50 young adults living primarily at JBJ Soul Homes, Francis House of Peace, and Ruth Williams House. Gloria Casarez Residence will provide homes and support for an additional 30 young people and offer a central location for the program with outdoor space, a community room with a kitchenette, laundry, exercise space, storage, bike room, and meeting and office space for residential services.

Residents will benefit from a combination of housing, employment, education, and health care services, in addition to case management, life skills education, and community-building activities.

This is the sixth project of MPOWER, the Middleton Partnership. MPOWER is a unique partnership model drawing on a powerful network of people and ideas that multiplies Project HOME’s impact in five key areas: investments, relationships, resources, advocacy, and evidence In just five years, the partnership’s impact multiplier model has leveraged $20 million into $200 million which has helped to provide services to more than 15, 000 people, including ending chronic street homelessness for more than 800 people.