Recent Accomplishments

Every year, the Network engages in a host of budget, policy, advocacy, research, training and green-housing activities. Below, you'll find a list of our most recent accomplishments. 

New York State Policy and Advocacy

In 2011, working with government partners and members, the Network successfully advocated for:

  • $2.9 million addition to the Department of Health AIDS Institute NY/NY III budget in Governor Cuomo’s 21-Day Amendment to the Executive Budget.
  • $2.55 million for services funding for homeless families and youth from the Office of Temporary Disability Services (OTDA).
  • A 52% increase in the number of supportive housing units funded by the NYS Homes & Community Renewal’s (HCR) 2011 Unified Funding Round.

Working with the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT), the Network and its members successfully advocated for:

  • Creation of an Affordable Housing Workgroup, which, with Network participation, developed recommendations later accepted by the full MRT to substantially expand supportive housing availability for high users of Medicaid.
  • Inclusion of supportive housing providers in Health Homes and assurance that place of residence will be considered when assigning tenants to Health Homes

New York City Policy and Advocacy

In 2011, working with government partners and members, the Network:

  • Successfully advocated to restore a planned $5.1 million cut to services in supportive housing services for people with HIV/AIDS.
  • Gained a commitment from the Human Resources Administration to collaborate on improving contracting and payment processes.
  • Launched a successful campaign to renew the City and State’s commitment to developing family supportive housing.
  • Helped shape a new construction change order process and new design guidelines at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).
  • Helped expedite temporary certificates of occupancy of recently opened residences.
  • Provided leadership to New York City’s Continuum of Care, securing $6 million in new federal funding and facilitating the CoC’s first strategic planning process.

Federal Policy and Advocacy

In 2011, the Network and its national partners, National Alliance to End Homelessness, National Low Income Housing Coalition and Corporation for Supportive Housing:

  • Protected McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance program funding.
  • Successfully advocated for the release of HEARTH Act regulations,
  • Captained state advocacy efforts in Washington, DC, visiting over 20 congressional offices.

Green Housing Initiative

In 2011, the Network’s Green Housing Initiative provided the following:

  • In partnership with Association for Energy Affordability (AEA), secured $15 million of new investment in New York State HCR weatherization funds to make energy efficient 2500 units in 56 supportive and affordable housing buildings.
  • Presented four green workshops at the 2011 Network Conference and continued our co-sponsorship of the Managing Lean and Green workshop series.
  • Developed a Living Green tenant education pilot program.
  • Provided assistance to 10 members and government partners on issues related to sustainable design, preservation and operations.

Training/Technical Assistance

In 2011, the Network:

  • Provided strategic siting assistance through the Good Neighbor Initiative to ten groups developing 820 units of housing.
  • Held workshops on topics ranging from bedbugs to construction contracts, and inaugurated an upstate training series with the Center for Urban Community Services.
  • Held four policy forums:  three on developing family supportive housing and one on the intersection between Medicaid redesign and supportive housing
  • Hosted the largest supportive housing conference in the country, drawing over 1,100 members of the supportive housing community.

Research/Publications

In 2011, the Network continued work on and/or published the following projects:

  • Funding Guide: The Network launched an online database with detailed profiles on over 50 supportive housing funding sources. The Funding Guide contains regularly-updated information on City, State, federal and private funding streams.
  • Common Spaces in Supportive Housing Survey: Working with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the Network produced a survey on common spaces in supportive housing residences.
  • Development Barriers Reports Part I (Siting) and Part II (Development): As part of a three-year initiative to identify and ameliorate pervasive development barriers to building supportive housing in New York City, the Network drafted a two-part series of reports based on a member survey and independent research.
  • HPD Construction Efficiencies Report: The report identifies why supportive housing costs more than other HPD programs and makes recommendations that will lower costs.
  • Building Support for Supportive Housing: Manual and Toolkit: The Network packaged three years of experience and materials into a siting manual and toolkit and published it our new website.
  • NY/NY III Progress Report: The Network's third annual report analyzes the development progress to date of the 2005 New York/New York III Agreement.

Public Education

In 2011, the Network:

  • Launched a total overhaul of its website, which now serves as a major informational hub for supportive housing
  • Launched an effort to increase presence on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.