Beyoncé, her mother Tina Knowles and her Destiny's Child bandmate Kelly Rowland gathered in Houston Tuesday for the opening of a 31-unit permanent supportive housing facility named for their two families, giving formerly homeless residents a place to call home starting next month. The Knowles-Rowland House will serve adults who have experienced chronic homelessness, with case management, mental-health counseling and other services built into the model.
According to the Houston Mayor's Office
, the facility opened with all 31 units designated for permanent supportive housing for Houstonians experiencing chronic homelessness. The mayor's office, posting Tuesday, thanked Harris County, Congress, the Knowles and Rowland families, and the project's nonprofit and philanthropic partners for helping bring the building to life. As
Click2Houston
reported, the ribbon-cutting marked the opening of a new permanent supportive housing facility built in partnership with Bread of Life, Inc.
Sixteen of the 31 units are designed with accommodations for residents who have mobility or sensory impairments, according to Bread of Life, the nonprofit sponsoring the project. The organization says residents will have access to case management, mental-health counseling, substance-abuse treatment, life-skills training and nutrition assistance, with social services delivered through a partnership with Temenos Community Development Corporation. Residents will be referred through the Coalition for the Homeless, with vouchers provided through Houston Alliance HTX, Click2Houston's report notes.
From Youth Center to Supportive Housing
The building has a long history on the site. Bread of Life says it was originally constructed in 1999 as a gymnasium and youth center, serving as the Knowles-Rowland Center for Youth before it suffered damage during Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and a fire in 2021. The redevelopment transformed the site into permanent supportive housing for people who have experienced chronic homelessness, per the nonprofit's account.
Fox 26 Houston reported that the ribbon-cutting ceremony drew Beyoncé, Rowland and Knowles alongside Houston Mayor John Whitmire, U.S. Rep. Christian Menefee and Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis. The gathering reflected years of public investment: Harris County committed about $7.2 million in federal pandemic recovery funding toward the redevelopment in 2023, according to the station's report.
That figure lines up with an earlier estimate. Community Impact reported in September 2023 that the project was projected to cost nearly $9 million, including the $7.2 million in Harris County American Rescue Plan Act funds. More recently, the Houston Chronicle described the finished project as a $13.96 million, three-story, 18,900-square-foot building with 31 single-room occupancy apartments — while a 2024 release from Allivate described it as a 21,000-square-foot building at 2019 Crawford Street in Midtown Houston. The discrepancies in cost, square footage and address remain unresolved across the available accounts.
Rents Fully Covered, Move-In Set for November
All rents within the project will be fully subsidized through HUD's Project-Based Voucher program, administered by the Houston Housing Authority, according to Allivate's 2024 account of the project. The Chronicle reports that residents are scheduled to begin moving into their new homes on Nov. 1.
A Homeless Count That Has Held Steady
The opening arrives as Houston's broader homelessness numbers have leveled off. The region's 2026 Point-in-Time Count found 3,321 people experiencing homelessness across Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties on a single night in February, according to the Coalition for the Homeless. That count included 2,051 sheltered individuals and 1,270 unsheltered individuals, and it reflected relative stability compared with the 2025 count of 3,325 people, the coalition said.
Not every corner of the region saw steady numbers, though. Houston Public Media reported that the count in downtown Houston rose from 194 people in 2025 to 242 in 2026. The Coalition for the Homeless also reported that 2,135 households were housed by partners of The Way Home during 2025, and that 85% of people who exited homelessness remained stably housed over a two-year period.
The Way Home, the regional effort coordinating that work, is made up of more than 100 partner organizations across the three-county region, according to The Way Home, which names the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County as its lead agency. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has credited that coordinated approach with reducing homelessness in the county by more than 16% between 2018 and 2026, per the coalition's report.
