METRO'S ROLE:

Metro served as financial & development consultants and project managers on the only tax credit project statewide serving low income families and people living independently with HIV/AIDS.

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

The JBJ Soul Homes is a 51 unit housing project that targets a portion of the community rarely addressed - those with HIV/AIDS. 

The project is a partnership between rocker Jon Bon Jovi’s philanthropic organization, the Philadelphia Soul Charitable Foundation, The City of Newark, the State of New Jersey, Broadway House and HELP USA, a national not-for-profit housing provider founded by Andrew Cuomo to help formerly homeless adults and low-income families become and remain self-reliant. 

Metro secured all of the financing for this $16 million project, which included NJHMFA Special Needs Trust Funds, taxable bonds and low income housing tax credits; NJDCA Balanced Housing Funds; City of Newark HOME Funds; Federal Home Loan Bank Affordable Housing Program Funds; a grant from the Philadelphia Soul Foundation; and construction and equity financing from the Bank of New York Mellon through Hudson Housing Capital.

RESULTS:

JBJ Soul Homes is the first residential facility in New Jersey to provide permanent housing that is fully integrated with the services of a post-acute-care AIDS facility, setting aside 25 percent of the units for residents living with HIV/AIDS.  This project gives this population, as well as low income families currently residing in substandard housing, and for homeless families presently in transitional housing facilities throughout the city, a chance to live on their own in a modern apartment and in a community like no other.

JBJ Soul Homes also incorporates a number of environmentally responsible and sustainable elements, including a green roof that makes the four-story building eligible for LEED certification.

Rendering by Kramer + Marks Architects