newjerseynewsroom.com

First facility in New Jersey to provide permanent housing fully integrated with services of post-acute care AIDS facility

BY JOSH CHAPIN

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Reuben Napper has been HIV positive for 12 years and was diagnosed with diabetes in 2007. One might even say that he has been "livin' on a prayer" since then.

Thus it was fitting that the pride of Sayreville, Jon Bon Jovi, be one of the first to welcome Napper to his new home at HELP Genesis JBJ Soul Homes in Newark. Napper, a former Broadway House resident, is one of 15 special needs residents to be moving into this brand new facility. He said he is looking forward to being closer to his family and enjoying a sense of privacy.

"I'm excited to be transitioning to my own apartment and working toward moving on with my life," said Napper who had met Bon Jovi when the rocker visited Broadway House. "This is a dream come true."

"Today I believe the sun is shining brighter in Newark because a dream has been realized," Bon Jovi noted. "... I'd like to be the first to say to Reuben and 14 others, ‘Welcome home.'"

Napper and Bon Jovi joined with Mayor Cory Booker, HELP USA Chairman Mara Cuomo Cole and other officials Tuesday afternoon to open a 51 unit affordable housing unit with support services for low-income and special-needs people.

Families living at JBJ Soul Homes will receive a continuum of services-most of which will be provided by Broadway House and HELP USA-to promote family stabilization, case management and employment services. In addition, HELP's community center will provide programs not only for residents of the JBJ Soul Homes but also for residents of the North Ward.

Booker also spoke of the many people that this building was serving in the city, including HIV/AIDS and special needs patients and the homeless. In fact, 25 percent of the apartments will have tenants who are living with AIDS, making the complex the first residential facility in New Jersey to provide permanent housing that is fully integrated with the services of post-acute care AIDS facility.

"I think this is a great thing for Newark," said Booker, emphasizing that the housing unit is the nicest he has seen built in New Jersey in the last decade. "Many of our neighborhoods are in transition where we are reclaiming old housing stock, where we are building new housing stock, where we are trying to pull neighborhoods together that for too long had abandoned buildings and abandoned housing so I think this is going to be a powerful part of a growing community and I'm just grateful."

Cole, wife of designer Kenneth Cole, said that every part of the building is environmentally friendly and even the plumbing can accommodate solar panels in the future. The building has a green roof and it even qualifies for LEED certification.

"JBJ Soul Homes is not just 51 apartments, not at all, but it's a living, thriving, supporting community and a gift for the city," said Cole, who added that the model apartment will be featured in the March 2010 issue of El Décor magazine. "I hope we can all take advantage of its state of the art resources."

The process from start to finish only took 15 months and the project also came in below budget, according to Booker. He said government financing combined with private philanthropy helped speed the process along. Since there is a high demand for affordable housing in Newark, Booker's team was able to use home funds and discretionary dollars to prioritize special needs housing and low-income housing.

"A powerful partnership, a hoard of heroes all came together to create something that is an incredible shining light during what to some is a very dark time," Booker said. "This is a time we should take stock in the truth of who we are because we have in a very physical and tangible way manifested the best of our humanity in building this project."