The RAIN Foundation, along with city, county, and other dignitaries broke ground on a new 11-unit residential building for homeless individuals who identify as LGBTQ and may have a disability yesterday at 25-27 Roseville Avenue.
The building will address the needs of underserved, chronically homeless LGBTQ young adults and those with disabilities. The units will provide safe, affordable, and supportive housing, allowing residents to become independent and self-sufficient.
Each resident will additionally receive supportive services from the RAIN Foundation and its partners to address their health, financial and psychosocial needs. These services will include case management, social services, and programming designed to best support sustainable and healthy futures for LGBTQ youth. Upon completion of this project, the apartment building will be addressing a tremendous need within the current Continuum of Care, which is the need for permanent affordable housing.
As the project is the first of its kind in the New Jersey area, it is a necessary effort to show LGBTQ individuals that their lives are valued and celebrated. It is a space for people to live without the fear of discrimination that too frequently occurs in housing.
The Essex LGBT Reaching Adolescents in Need (RAIN) Foundation provides emergency shelter, transitional housing and permanent supporting housing services to LGBTQ young adults aged 18-26. The RAIN Foundation recognizes the way LGBTQ young adults experiencing crisis are underserved, and that housing is one way to help these adolescents avoid homelessness and lead healthy lives.
This project is the first of its scale for the RAIN Foundation, which has been operating in the Greater Newark area since 2013.
