New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency

Christie Administration Marks Grand Opening of Affordable Housing Project in Essex County

For Immediate Release:
July 1, 2016
Contact:
Tammori Petty
,
Lisa Ryan
609-292-6055

Mary’s House Provides 24 Rehabilitated Rental Apartments for Homeless Individuals with Special Needs

NEWARK, N.J. –New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) Executive Director Anthony L. Marchetta and senior staff recently joined elected state and local officials and community leaders to celebrate the grand opening of Mary’s House, which provides 24 substantially rehabilitated rental apartments for homeless individuals with special needs. The apartments are situated within a four-story building, comprising 13 studios and 11 one-bedroom units. The developer is Integrity, Inc., also known as Integrity House.

The HMFA, an affiliate of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), awarded developer Integrity, Inc., more than $1.8 million in federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery funds through the Sandy Special Needs Housing Fund (SSNHF). The SSNHF program provides capital subsidies in the form of loans to non-profit and for-profit developers to develop permanent supportive housing in the nine counties most impacted by Sandy for low- and moderate-income special needs populations.

"Because Superstorm Sandy affected people with special needs, we wanted to create a recovery program to expand supportive housing options for vulnerable populations in counties impacted by the storm," said HMFA Executive Director Marchetta. "We are very pleased to support Mary’s House where formerly homeless residents will live and thrive independently with the help of a wide variety of social services resources provided by Integrity House."

Mary’s House was officially dedicated to Ed Lyons, a former chief clinical officer of Integrity House, and renamed Lyons Gateway Apartments. The building, which is part of Integrity House’s Lincoln Park campus, features six apartments per floor. All of the units have kitchenettes and full bathrooms and are available to individuals with incomes of less than 50 percent of Area Median Income (AMI). The building basement includes a common room, laundry services, and offices for property administration, maintenance and housing case managers. The common room includes exercise equipment, a kitchenette and a bathroom.

Integrity House is the social services provider for the apartment building and has been licensed by the New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services for more than 30 years, providing multiple substance abuse treatment programs. Because Mary’s House, now called Lyons Gateway Apartments, is a permanent supportive housing community, the social services provided to residents will include intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment, mental health counseling and case management. In addition, other types of supportive services include employment training, financial and budgeting counseling, educational services, post-treatment supportive sober housing, prevention, intervention and aftercare. The overall goal of the recovery management within the permanent and sober living environment is to reduce recidivism, increase public safety and improve the socio-economic status of the residents.

The neighborhood in which the building is located is a combination of commercial, residential and light industrial uses with churches, transportation, and food stores located within a half mile. The building is within a few minutes of downtown Newark and is near New Jersey Transit bus service.

HMFA estimates the project, which cost $2.8 million to develop, has generated approximately $4.5 million in one-time economic output, defined as the total value of industry production, such as sales and business revenues. During construction, the project supported approximately 28 direct and indirect/induced full-time equivalent jobs, and generated approximately $167,000 in state and local taxes. Now complete, the project will continue to add value to the community by providing more than $153,000 in ongoing economic output, three direct and indirect/induced full-time equivalent jobs, and more than $28,000 in state and local taxes annually.

Economic Impact Analysis figures were estimated using multipliers derived from a 2013 study entitled "Economic and Fiscal Impacts of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency’s Investment in Affordable Housing," conducted by HR&A Advisors, Inc., a real estate and economic development consulting firm.

For more information on HMFA programs, please call 1-800-NJHOUSE or (609) 278-7400, or visit http://www.njhousing.gov/

Christie Administration Marks Grand Opening of Affordable Housing Project in Essex County
High Res Photo

From left to right: Robert J. Budsock, CEO and President of Integrity House; Lisa Block, Senior Program Officer for The Healthcare Foundation of NJ Julio Colon, Director of Economic and Housing Development for the City of Newark; Annemarie Uebbing, CPD Director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Anthony Marchetta, Executive Director of NJ Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency, Geoffrey Perselay, Esq., Chair of the Integrity House Board of Trustees; and Ed Lyons, honoree of the Lyons Gateway Apartments Ceremony and retired Integrity House Chief Clinical Officer. Photo courtesy of Integrity House.