Eugene’s Homes for Good celebrated the grand opening of their latest development, the Commons on MLK on Thursday.
The 51-unit four-story building is located steps from Lane County Behavioral Health, and it’s first floor is dedicated to supportive services. Not to mention it features trauma informed design elements throughout the property. Homes for Good Executive Director Jacob Fox said they expect full occupancy by May.
“This building is really unique frankly across the nation because it’s a permanent supportive housing apartment community for people experiencing chronic homelessness, but more than that it will house people that are frequent users of emergency services," Fox said.
Fox said the application process will utilize Lane County's Coordinated Entry program to help identify chronically homeless people in need of housing. The project was also funded in part by some of the biggest health care providers in the area including Kaiser Permanente and PeaceHealth, which Fox said is unprecedented.
"So the whole concept behind this building is to take people that are unhoused and costing the community a lot of money because of their emergency needs and provide a home to them,” he said.
The $13 million housing first project was funded through multiple partnerships including Lane County, the City of Eugene, and other partners. Homes for Good is currently working on two similar projects with one being developed specifically for families.
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