Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland have been showered with praises for their kindred spirits. The “Break My Soul” songstress and the “Kisses Down Low” singer were revealed by Harris county leaders to have given their “supportive” effort in building houses for homeless people.
During a press conference on Tuesday morning, June 27, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo made public what the former Destiny’s Child members have done. “It’s especially interesting, I think, because there are these names of Beyonce and Kelly Rowland, who, of course, have been supportive of the community for a very long time,” Lina stated per reported by the Houston Chronicle.
In her statement, Lina announced, “Harris County and the city of Houston, jointly with the coalition for the homeless, have reduced homeless in the middle of the pandemic by 20 percent and we’ve been able to hold that reduction.” She went on to say, “We just did the homeless count again, so it’s initiatives like this one I certainly will be supportive of it no matter whose behind it.”
Beyonce and Kelly, who are Houston natives, are said to be teaming up with Harris County officials to build 31 permanent housing units in Midtown, Houston. County leaders unveiled that they will utilize $7.2 million in American Rescue Plan funds to build the houses at the Bread of Life gymnasium at 2019 Crawford Street.
Lina additionally stated that an “even bigger launch” of the houses is set to be revealed when Beyonce comes to Houston for her “Renaissance World Tour” in September. The exact date of the bigger launch, however, has not been announced.
41-year-old Beyonce herself is set to perform in the city for two days, September 23 and September 24, at NRG Stadium.
Aside from the 31 houses, Beyonce and Kelly, through their Knowles-Rowland House project, will provide case managers, peer experts, service specialists and support services such as transportation, mental health, physical and behavioral health services.
The construction work itself will begin in October, as revealed by Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, and will require approximately $8.4 million. The project also gets extra money coming from outside sources, such as Rice University.
“This will be our fifth housing development in downtown in Precinct 1 over these last 17 years, and just really grateful to continue to help end homeless in our county,” Rudy Rasmus, the executive director of Bread of Life, stated.
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