Beyoncé, Tina Knowles and Kelly Rowland stood together in Houston on Tuesday as the Knowles-Rowland House was unveiled at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The project turns the former Knowles-Rowland Center for Youth into permanent supportive housing.
The development includes 31 housing units, and 16 of them are designed for people with mobility or sensory impairments. For residents who have experienced chronic homelessness, the building is meant to offer more than a roof: it is being paired with social services through a partnership with Temenos Community Development Corporation.
That mix of housing and support is what gives the project its urgency now. The services are set to include case management, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, life skills training and nutrition assistance, which can make the difference between a temporary placement and a stable home.
The building also carries a difficult history. It was originally constructed in 1999 as a gymnasium and youth center, funded with earnings from Destiny's Child's first single, and named after Beyoncé Knowles and Kelly Rowland. It later suffered significant damage during Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and again in a fire in 2021, leaving a structure with deep roots in Houston and a long period of uncertainty behind it.
Wednesday's celebration also reflected the scale of the public and private effort behind the redevelopment. Harris County committed about $7.2 million in federal pandemic recovery funding toward the project in 2023, and Bread of Life, a nonprofit affiliated with St. John's Downtown Church, is sponsoring the housing. Houston Mayor John Whitmire, Congressman Christian Menefee and Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis were among those at the ceremony.
Bread of Life was founded in 1992 by pastors Rudy and Juanita Rasmus and has worked for more than 34 years with people experiencing homelessness and those without permanent housing. What remains unresolved is when residents will actually begin moving in; the ribbon cutting marks the opening of the project, but not the start of occupancy.
