Project HOME Turns Around Mayor Kenney's Previous View On Homelessness
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Low-income housing brought out some very high profile politicians and businessmen for a groundbreaking in North Philadelphia, this morning. The gathering is a measure of how far the issue of homelessness has come.
When Project HOME wanted to put its headquarters on Fairmount Avenue, in the early 90's, the city's most powerful united against it, including then-councilman Jim Kenney.
"I will make my confession that I was one of those people who thought and looked at homelessness as something we shouldn't see, something that should be out of sight," Kenney admitted.
As it did with Mayor Kenney, Project HOME has turned many people around on the issue. Another convert, Phillies owner John Middleton has funded the initiative that led to the new 88-unit project on North Broad Street, and says he's become something of a turn-around artist himself, at least on low-income housing.
"When you approach someone in this effort you're really approaching them to commit to this mission to end homelessness and the commitment to end homelessness is a commitment to address all these other issues: poverty and hunger and education and crime and lack of job opportunities," Middleton said.
The Middleton Fund's goal is to build 1,000 new units of low-income housing. This project will bring the total so far to 750.
