Ruth Ellis Center to break ground on $15 million housing, clinic project for LGBTQ+ youth
The Ruth Ellis Center and Detroit Housing & Revitalization Department will break ground Friday on a new, $15 million permanent supportive housing development in Detroit that will provide housing, a health clinic and community space targeted at LGBTQ+ youth.
The 43-unit, 44,000-square-foot mixed-use Ruth Ellis Clairmount Center is a collaboration between the Ruth Ellis Center and Peoria, Ill.-based Full Circle Communities Inc. The ground-up development will provide permanent supportive housing that includes integrated supportive services to create an inclusive environment while also tackling other issues that can lead to homelessness.
Ruth Ellis currently has a nine-bed residential care facility, but this larger independent living community in Detroit’s Piety Hill neighborhood west of Woodward Avenue and north of New Center is new. It’s an expansion of services for the Highland Park organization that provides outreach, safety net-type services, health care services, case management, workshops and HIV prevention programs for young LGBT people and others who are at-risk, homeless or have run away. Around 80 percent of those Ruth Ellis serves identify as African-American and 16 percent with multiple ethnic identities; 25 percent identify as transgender women of color.
Full Circle, founded in 1999, develops affordable housing paired with support services. Depending on the population, that could mean anything from child care to transportation assistance, housekeeping or disability access.
