Affordabe housing developer A Community of Friends opened the long-awaited Gateways complex on Hoover at London Street, and I was proud to join the developer and the community at the grand opening.
The handsome $5 million project was envisioned in a real partnership between ACOF and the neighbors. With 90,000 people living on the streets throughout our county, we cannot afford to let the pace of developing new affordable housing slack even the slightest bit.
Permanent supportive housing facilities like Gateways elaborate our most successful model for ending homelessness. The New York Times recently reported success rates of 80% and higher for homeless individuals entering permanent supportive housing. Thanks to ACOF, 29 formerly homeless individuals can live at Gateways in an area with one of the fastest rising property values in the city.
ACOF has been steady and committed, keeping the project on schedule while navigating bureaucratic errors at the federal level and initial resistance from neighbors with questions about the project. The result—reached by responding to the community and incorporating its concerns—is part of the solution to the regional crisis of homelessness.