Newark, NJ – March 8, 2021 – Mayor Ras J. Baraka; Sakinah Hoyte, City of Newark’s Homelessness Czar; Mike Loganbill, VP and COO of Homes 4 the Homeless; and Craig Mainor, Executive Director of United Community Corporation launched NEWARK Hope Village today. The innovative 90-day program using converted containers to shelter residents who are at-risk or without addresses is located at 79 Newark Street in Newark.
What is unique about this village is that the containers have been converted into fully code-compliant modular residences, consisting of dorm-style rooms, two utility structures with private shower rooms, and a multipurpose structure. These units meet all the standards for permanent residential housing. The rooms have furnishings including a heater, bunk bed for extra storage and a dresser.
From start to finish H4H built the Hope Village in a record 45 days. With our manufacturing partner Custom Containers 915 we were able to meet all federal, state, and local building codes for permanent residential housing.
Management of the shelter was passed on to UCC, United Community Corporation after the project was completed. Big thank you to Bloomberg Philanthropy who facilitated our involvement.
Homes 4 the Homeless has and will continue consulting with the City of Newark on project management, design, budgeting, site planning, contracting the manufacturing, furnishing the units and identifying supportive services.
A key innovation we want to bring to shelter design is modularization. We help our clients determine the feasibility of modular housing through expert research and consulting. Then we identify and contract with the best centralized manufacturing available, which helps save time and money building the units all in one place.
The rigid steel construction allows our container housing to be rapidly deployed via freight or truck and then placed and replaced to adapt to virtually any site regardless of size, shape, adjacency, and available infrastructure.
The units are reusable and last for years so that the cost per person comes down to just a few dollars per night over the lifetime of the housing. We believe an inventory of modular housing will become a key addition to any comprehensive long-term housing strategy.
Homes 4 the Homeless is a certified 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2018 after founder Steve Schneider’s house was burned down in the Sonoma wildfires.
