Project HOME, which seeks to empower homeless individuals and families to break the cycle of homelessness, continues to bring their social consciousness to a string of green building projects, most recently in Fairmount and Chinatown.
JBJ Soul Homes
1415 Fairmount Avenue
JBJ Soul Homes offers units for formerly homeless individuals. Within its four stories are 55 residential units split between subsidized permanent supportive housing for adults and affordable efficiency apartments for young adults. The building also contains ground-floor retail, administrative office spaces and spaces for supportive services. The project team, led by architects Kitchen and Associates, will likely earn LEED Silver certification. The building was designed with the well-being of its occupants in mind, featuring plentiful daylighting and low-emission materials for flooring, paint, adhesives and sealants.
Funding: The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, Leigh and John Middleton, Elizabeth Moran, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the City of Philadelphia.
Francis House of Peace
801 Arch Street
Named in honor of Pope Francis, Francis House of Peace is a partnership between Project HOME and Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC). The eight-story, 94-unit project will be LEED certified, and will serve homeless individuals as well as those with low incomes, including young adults in the LGBTQ community; applications for housing are now open to qualified individuals, and the innovative project is set to open in January of 2016. Francis House will enliven a pedestrian-unfriendly area marked by parking garages and uninviting commercial buildings, and will have ground-level retail facing Arch Street. The Philadelphia Redevelopment Corporation donated the land for the project.
Funding: Pennsylvania Housing Finance Authority, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Leigh and John Middleton.