flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Houston to soon have 50 new residential units for youth leaving foster care

Affordable Housing

Houston to soon have 50 new residential units for youth leaving foster care

Designed by Gensler to feel like a college campus, The Houston Alumni and Youth (HAY) Center will include efficiency-style apartment units with full kitchens.


By Novid Parsi, Contributing Editor | July 27, 2023
Designed by Gensler to feel like a college campus, The HAY Center includes 50 efficiency-style apartment units with full kitchens as well as washers and dryers. Rendering: Gensler
Designed by Gensler to feel like a college campus, The HAY Center includes 50 efficiency-style apartment units with full kitchens as well as washers and dryers. Rendering: Gensler

Houston will soon have 50 new residential units for youth leaving the foster care system and entering adulthood. The Houston Alumni and Youth (HAY) Center has broken ground on its 59,000-sf campus, with completion expected by July 2024. The HAY Center is a nonprofit program of Harris County Resources for Children and Adults and for foster youth ages 14-25 transitioning to adulthood in the Houston community.

Designed by Gensler to feel like a college campus, The HAY Center includes 50 efficiency-style apartment units with full kitchens as well as washers and dryers.Five of the units can house a single parent and one child. Connecting the apartments, a community space also offers a full kitchen, plus a flexible area that can be used for studying and for movie nights.

Input from The HAY Center’s youth informed the design of the two-building campus. Their input indicated the design should focus on five themes: home, empowerment, community, wellness, and security. Here’s a quick rundown of how Gensler’s design addresses each theme:

  • Home: All activities take place in an environment that feels like home. To that end, the center features community kitchens, small and large meeting spaces, comfortable furnishings, and entrances that make everyone feel welcome.
  • Empowerment: Youth are empowered by signing a lease, receiving a key, and having a place of their own.
  • Community: The center is part of an established community with public transportation access, employment opportunities, and green spaces that promote a sense of belonging.
  • Wellness: The design promotes physical and mental wellness. Onsite services include case workers and mental health services and other facilities available to all HAY Center youth, not only those who live on campus.
  • Security: Hay Center youth do not have to depend on someone else for a place to live, and they have control of their own space. Campus security features have been based on input from the youth and industry professionals.

The project is targeting LEED Silver certification.

On the Building Team:
Owner: Harris County
Design architect and architect of record: Gensler
MEP engineer: Wylie
Structural engineer: Dally + Associates
General contractor: Arch-Con Corporation

Houston Alumni and Youth (HAY) Center, designed by Gensler
Rendering: Gensler 
Houston Alumni and Youth (HAY) Center, designed by Gensler
Rendering: Gensler 

 

Related Stories

Multifamily Housing | Oct 28, 2024

A case for mid-rise: How multifamily housing can reshape our cities

Often referred to as “five-over-ones,” the mid-rise apartment type is typically comprised of five stories of apartments on top of a concrete “podium” of ground-floor retail. The main criticism of the “five-over-one” is that they are often too predictable.

Adaptive Reuse | Oct 22, 2024

Adaptive reuse project transforms 1840s-era mill building into rental housing

A recently opened multifamily property in Lawrence, Mass., is an adaptive reuse of an 1840s-era mill building. Stone Mill Lofts is one of the first all-electric mixed-income multifamily properties in Massachusetts. The all-electric building meets ambitious modern energy codes and stringent National Park Service historic preservation guidelines.

MFPRO+ News | Oct 22, 2024

Project financing tempers robust demand for multifamily housing

AEC Giants with multifamily practices report that the sector has been struggling over the past year, despite the high demand for housing, especially affordable products.

MFPRO+ Research | Oct 15, 2024

Multifamily rents drop in September 2024

The average multifamily rent fell by $3 in September to $1,750, while year-over-year growth was unchanged at 0.9 percent.

Affordable Housing | Oct 4, 2024

3 new affordable housing projects for October 2024

As affordable housing continues to grow, more projects are looking to diversify their footprint by adding mixed-use components, community areas, and more.

MFPRO+ News | Sep 24, 2024

Major Massachusetts housing law aims to build or save 65,000 multifamily and single-family homes

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey recently signed far-reaching legislation to boost housing production and address the high cost of housing in the Bay State. The Affordable Homes Act aims to build or save 65,000 homes through $5.1 billion in spending and 49 policy initiatives.

Adaptive Reuse | Sep 12, 2024

White paper on office-to-residential conversions released by IAPMO

IAPMO has published a new white paper titled “Adaptive Reuse: Converting Offices to Multi-Residential Family,” a comprehensive analysis of addressing housing shortages through the conversion of office spaces into residential units.

Legislation | Sep 9, 2024

Efforts to encourage more housing projects on California coast stall

A movement to encourage more housing projects along the California coast has stalled out in the California legislature. Earlier this year, lawmakers, with the backing of some housing activists, introduced a series of bills aimed at making it easier to build apartments and accessory dwelling units along California’s highly regulated coast. 

Resiliency | Sep 3, 2024

Phius introduces retrofit standard for more resilient buildings

Phius recently released, REVIVE 2024, a retrofit standard for more resilient buildings. The standard focuses on resilience against grid outages by ensuring structures remain habitable for at least a week during extreme weather events.

Adaptive Reuse | Aug 29, 2024

More than 1.2 billion sf of office space have strong potential for residential conversion

More than 1.2 billion sf of U.S. office space—14.8% of the nation’s total—have strong potential for conversion to residential use, according to real estate software and services firm Yardi. Yardi’s new Conversion Feasibility Index scores office buildings on their suitability for multifamily conversion.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021