Queen Latifah is giving back. The rapper, actress and business woman always had aspirations to give back to the neighborhood where she was born and raised and officially broke ground on the project Tuesday. The project includes 16 affordable housing units with amenities such as keyless entry and charging stations for electric cars.
“Queen Latifah should be able to live in the city that she was born in,” she said Tuesday at a groundbreaking for a new housing complex named Rise Living.
Queen teamed up with local officials to make this dream a reality. Construction is expected to be completed later this year.
View this post on Instagram
“The affordable housing units are going to be beautiful – just as beautiful as market rate housing,” Queen Latifah said. “We can’t price everyone out of Newark, who have grown here and lived here all of out lives.”
Queen tells NBC4 New York it was her personal mission to redevelop on that corner of Springfield Avenue. In 2014, 15-year-old Al-Shakeen Woodson was shot and killed following a Mother’s Day motorcycle event.
“This land should be about life, not dilapidation,” Queen Latifah said.
Interested in moving in? You can begin to apply in July.
