Newark opens housing center for residents without a permanent address – Essex News Daily
NEWARK, NJ – On February 2, Mayor Ras J. Baraka opened the Miller Street Pathways to Housing Center at 47 Miller St., a new shelter and support center for Newark residents without a permanent address.
Construction and renovation of the former Miller Street Elementary School began last February, creating a new 24,000 square foot shelter complete with supportive social services that will help transition homeless Newark residents into housing. more stable.
“The opening of this center is another positive step forward and an important milestone in our community-wide efforts to address and end homelessness. Every resident without an address deserves a pathway to permanent housing and my administration will continually strive to shelter and protect the most vulnerable in our community,” Baraka said. “Our partners in this project, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark, Claremont Development and Arc Building Partners share these ideals and we thank them for making this possible.”
The new Miller Street Pathways to Housing Center will offer individual counseling and case management, as well as behavioral health, social and nutritional services, including drug and alcohol counselling.
The new state-of-the-art facility includes a total of 166 shelter beds, including 84 male, 44 female and 21 code blue beds, as well as seven individual suites with a total of 17 family beds. The “code blue” beds are reserved for people brought to the shelter due to freezing temperatures.
The daily walk-in facility includes individual bathrooms with showers, tubs, and changing rooms; washers and dryers; and tables, chairs and televisions. A full commercial kitchen has been installed for on-site meal preparation for those in the shelter residence and larger community.
Newark Homelessness Czar Sakinah Hoyte, who leads Newark’s homelessness initiatives, called the project “an excellent example of public, private and non-profit collaboration being undertaken in the best interests of our residents without an address in mind”.
“Under Mayor Baraka’s leadership, we continue to provide essential, low-barrier transitional support services and housing opportunities for our most vulnerable homeless residents to find safe shelter and pathways to individual independence. “, said Hoyte.
As part of Newark’s focus on homelessness and community health, Catholic Charities has worked with the city and Claremont Development for approximately five years to develop the facility, which is also home to a number of other Catholic Charities social service and support programs.
“Catholic Charities is delighted to be associated with this initiative. The Miller Street Pathways to Housing Center will not only impact meeting the immediate needs of homeless people today, but will also impact their future, as the center’s services build stability in the lives of men, women and children in need,” said the CEO of Catholic Charities. said John Westervelt.
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