Pasadena apartments will host families battling life-limiting illnesses

A housing project underway in Pasadena aims to provide shelter, and a sense of community, for seriously ill children and their families.

The non-profit Project Joy and Hope currently provides shelter and other support services for about 38 families in the city of Houston, and 11 in Pasadena, says founder and executive director Janice Wheeler. A new site on Tulip Street in Pasadena will eventually feature six three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments, spread out among three buildings.

Wheeler says one of the units is currently under construction, and new federal grant funding the project hopes to secure through the City of Pasadena and Gulf Coast Housing Partners will help the organization complete that unit and build the second.

The project began with an initial grant of about $301,000, she says, and now is trying to secure another one for about $290,000. Pasadena's City Council will discuss the second grant, arranged through the federal Home Investment Partnership fund, during its meeting Tuesday morning.

"The goal is to have these units in one location so that the families can still have their privacy, but also have a sense of community, and also so our agency can support them in one location," Wheeler says. "They have a recognition that they're not the only person walking through this."

The project focuses on serving families who don't qualify for other kinds of housing assistance, but face extreme financial strain, and even the danger of becoming homeless, due to the cost and stress of caring for a child with a life-threatening illness. "Many families whose children suddenly need a heart transplant, a lung transplant, or they need cancer treatment, that comes quite often without any warning," Wheeler says.

For more information on Project Joy and Hope, go here.

Pasadena's city council meets Tuesday, May 10 at 10 a.m. at 1211 Southmore Ave. View the agenda here.