Alhaven, A Supportive Housing Community in Midtown, Breaks Ground

Alhaven, A Supportive Housing Community in Midtown, Will Break Ground in September
25% of these units will be set aside for young adults diagnosed with HIV or AIDS

SAVE, Inc., a leader in providing comprehensive housing solutions to socially and medically disadvantaged people, along with the Vecino Group, a supportive housing developer, are both excited to announce they will break ground on a new, 50-unit affordable, permanent-supportive housing community, Alhaven, on Thursday, September 12, 2019 at10:00am. Mayor Quinton Lucas and City Councilman Eric Bunch will both be attending and speaking.

Alhaven will be built in Midtown Kansas City near 31st and Harrison Streets, one block west of the Troost Corridor. This new community will be a single, four-story building with 50 housing units; 12 studio apartments, 27, one-bedroom apartments and 11, two-bedroom apartments, each complete with a kitchen, washer, and dryer.

25% of these units will be set aside for young adults, ages 18-25 that have a diagnosis of HIV or AIDS. The groundbreaking ceremony will begin at 10:00 am, Thursday, September 12th at SAVE, Inc.’s Silverleaf building located at 911 E. 31^st Street, Kansas City, Missouri, 64109.

To date, there are no supportive housing solutions in the greater Kansas City area serving young adults with HIV/AIDS. While many people think homelessness resonates the same way regardless of age but youth or “street youth” homelessness is distinctly different from adult homelessness. The causes and consequences are diverse and so is how interventions are acknowledged and implemented.

“We are thrilled to be able to provide 50 new units of affordable housing to our Midtown Kansas City campus and more importantly, to the youth in our community. This project will further support SAVE’s mission and help us to continue our 33-year history of serving Kansas City’s most vulnerable citizens through stable housing and supportive services. Alhaven will complement our existing facilities and programs,” said CEO of Save, Inc. Blaine Proctor. “We’re grateful to be working with the Vecino Group to make our dream a reality”, Proctor added. Onsite medical services will be provided in collaboration with community partners.

Youth aging out of foster care and youth without a permanent place to call home is the fastest-growing homeless population. In addition, young adults living with homelessness are more likely to contract HIV through unsafe sex and needle sharing. These youth often combat homelessness by practicing “survival” methods such as emergency sex in order to have a couch to sleep on or to provide “rent” just to stay in an abandoned building. This population is seeing an increase in the HIV diagnosis and are more than likely to fall out of treatment once diagnosed proposing a risk to others. According to a study conducted by the University of Chicago during 2016-2017, one in ten youth between the ages of 18 and 25 experienced homelessness within the previous year. With the development of Alhaven and the partnership between Save Inc. and the Vecino Group, they will be able to combine affordable housing and onsite medical services and will set a standard for best practice methods of addressing this pivotal issue.

About SAVE, Inc.
SAVE, Inc. was founded in 1986 by courageous volunteers who recognized the dire need to provide AIDS victims who had lost their homes, a place to die with dignity. With few resources and a firm belief in the need to help others, those volunteers established SAVE Home in midtown Kansas City, the first AIDS-specific hospice in the state of Missouri. What began more than 30 years ago as a mere 8-bedroom hospice has since expanded to include 66 units in seven residential buildings, and to providing housing and housing solutions to over 900 households every month in 15 counties on both sides of the state line. Because of these efforts, SAVE Inc. has become the largest processor of tenant-based rental assistance vouchers in Missouri and has expanded its mission to include people with a dual diagnosis of homelessness, poverty, serious and persistent mental illness, substance abuse disorders, and/or HIV/AIDS. For more information, please visit www.saveinckc.org.

About The Vecino Group
The Vecino Group, LLC is a company focused on development for the greater good. Each project the company undertakes must address a broader community need, set an example, give back to the community, and inspire the professionals working on it with a greater sense of purpose. Based in Missouri, the Vecino Group is currently working in 11 States and has completed more than 1,500,000 square feet of development.