Showing Posts by Date: 03/2014
03.31.2014
The NYS Legislature has finalized and is expected to vote on its 2014-2015 budget within the next few days. Overall, the $138 million spending plan is a positive budget for supportive housing and is very similar to Governor Cuomo’s proposal submitted in January. It provides significant increases in capital funding for supportive housing development, large allocations of supportive housing service and operating subsidies for high-cost Medicaid recipients and modest increases to key supportive housing and homelessness programs like NYSSHP, STEHP and OMH Supported Housing. It also includes a 30% rent cap for persons living with HIV/AIDS in NYC and supports an OMH reinvestment fund to expand access to community-based services throughout the state.
To influence the debate on this year’s budget, the Network co-hosted an advocacy day in Albany with Homeless Services United (HSU) on March 18. More than 60 volunteers and staffers attended roughly 40 meetings that day with NYS senators, representatives and their staff. We argued for the very issues outlined below in these meetings. We’d like to thank everyone who participated in this advocacy day as well as the one we co-hosted in February.
We’d also like to thank Governor Andrew Cuomo and his staff, the Division of Budget, the NYS Senate (specifically Senator Avella, Social Services Committee Chair; Senator Young, Housing Committee Chair; Senator Hannon, Health Committee Chair; and Senator Carlucci, Chair of the Mental Health Committee), the NYS Assembly (specifically, Assemblywoman Titus, Chair of Social Services; Assemblyman Wright, Housing Chair; Assemblyman Gottfried, Health Committee Chair and Assemblywoman Gunther, Chair of Mental Health) and all of the staff in both houses who worked tirelessly to put this budget together. We deeply appreciate your continuing commitment to supportive housing.
Budget highlights of particular interest include:
Continue Reading …03.26.2014
A new report from Charlotte shows that supportive housing can dramatically reduce a formerly homeless person’s use of hospitals, emergency rooms and jails.
The study, available here, finds that the 85 tenants of Moore Place have increased incomes, greater social support, fewer arrests and decreased medical expenses within one year of moving into supportive housing. The findings on medical expenses are particularly striking: Tenants billed nearly $1.8 million less in medical expenses during their first year in housing as compared to the previous year. This represents a 70% reduction in hospital and emergency room use.
Moore Place Permanent Supportive Housing Evaluation Study reaffirms what more than two dozen studies have previously shown: that an investment in supportive housing can lead to significant cost savings. The report has already received substantial press coverage from the Huffington Post, the Charlotte Observer and other outlets.
“Housing the homeless not only saves lives – it’s actually cheaper than doing nothing,” concluded the Huffington Post.
Continue Reading … | Research, Press03.25.2014
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With an Executive Budget proposed by President Obama earlier this month, our attention has now turned to the House and Senate budgets for the 2015 fiscal year. Several “Dear Colleague” letters are now in circulation to support funding increases for key programs that impact the supportive housing world. We urge you to call your elected officials and call on them to sign on in support. For a rundown of key programs within the US Department Housing and Urban Development (HUD), see below.
Rep. Gwen Moore is leading a sign-on letter for her colleagues in the House of Representatives in support of the President’s request of $2.405 billion in funding for HUD’s McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants in FY 2015. The deadline for representatives to join the letter is April 4. Members of the House can sign on to the letter by contacting Sean Gard of Rep. Moore’s office.
Similarly, Sen. Jack Reed is circulating a sign-on letter in the Senate in support of funding for McKinney programs in FY 2015. The deadline for senators to sign on to the letter is April 1. Members of the Senate can join by contacting James Ahn in Senator Reed’s office.
New York Rep. Jerold Nadler’s Dear Colleague letter supports increased funding for Housing Choice Vouchers. In order to restore all lost Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) due to sequestration, HUD needs an additional $320 million above the President’s budget request. The deadline for the letter is March 31. The contact in Rep. Nadler’s office is Melissa Connolly.
Continue Reading … | Federal03.25.2014
In addition to yesterday's Request for Applications (RFA) from the NYS Department of Health (DOH), the agency has also released an RFA for the Senior Supportive Housing Services program. Applications are due May 15 with several additional deadlines throughout April. See below for an overview of the RFA.
DOH is seeking to fund eight projects that provide senior supportive housing services to Medicaid-eligible seniors who are homeless, seniors who reside in the community and are at risk of nursing home placement or seniors transitioning out of nursing homes in the community who require long term care. Funding can be used for home modifications to make the living environment more accessible and/or services to allow the person to remain housed and live independently in the community.
For purposes of this RFA, a senior supportive housing services project is defined as the pairing of capital assistance and supportive services within existing senior housing communities.
Capital assistance funding is available to increase accessibility features within existing units. Funding for new construction or gut rehabilitation of vacant buildings is not available through this RFA. Funding can also be used to develop and provide supportive services to residents in order to sustain the residents’ ability to remain housed, live independently in the community and to avoid unwanted institutional care.
Continue Reading … | Funding, New York State03.24.2014
The NYS Department of Health (DOH) has just released Request for Applications (RFA) for the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) Supportive Housing Nursing Home to Independent Living program.
Applications are due May 15 with several additional deadlines throughout April. Funding will support services and rental subsidies for high-need Medicaid beneficiaries. See below for an overview of the RFA.
DOH is seeking to fund up to two innovative projects to provide supportive housing services -- including the provision of rental subsidies to seniors and individuals with physical disabilities who require a nursing home-level of care and who currently are homeless, reside in the community or in nursing homes or those who are at risk of nursing home placement. The funded projects will develop, implement and provide supportive services to participants in order to sustain the participants’ ability to live in the community independently, and to avoid unwanted institutional care. The funded projects will also develop and implement a system to provide rental subsidies on behalf of participants of this project.
DOH intends to award up to two contracts for a two-year term with no renewals anticipated. The total anticipated amount available for this procurement is up to $8 million (up to $4 million per year for two years).
Continue Reading … | Funding, New York State03.14.2014
Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, two stories were published this week on Sister Tesa Fitzgerald, the celebrated Irish American and executive director of a Queens-based supportive housing provider.
The pieces, which ran in the Wall Street Journal and Irish Central, highlight the recent opening of Hour Apartment House II, a supportive housing residence that opened late last year. The residence offers housing and services to formerly incarcerated women and their children.
The Wall Street Journal piece highlights the warm, inviting atmosphere created by Hour Children, the nonprofit that developed the residence. “I never thought I would live somewhere so beautiful,” says one of the tenants. “When you out there on the street, you don't think someone like Sister Tesa could love a total stranger. I'm glad she loves me,” says another. It’s a moving account of how supportive housing can transform the lives of some of New York’s most underserved individuals and families (please note that this article may be behind a pay wall).
Continue Reading … | New York City, Press, Member News03.11.2014
The NYS Department of Health (DOH) has just released the Medicaid Redesign Team Supportive Housing Health Home Pilot Project Request for Applications (RFA). DOH is seeking applications from supportive housing providers for funds to provide rental subsidies and/or on-site or community-based services to provide housing for homeless or unstably housed Medicaid members that are enrolled in New York State’s Health Home program.
Applications are due May 23 with several additional deadlines throughout March and April. See below for an overview of this RFA.
The intent of the Pilot Program is to identify best practices, procedures and methods for supportive housing providers to collaborate with Health Homes to:
03.10.2014
When Robert Hart awoke on February 11, he had no idea he’d be visiting Albany that day to tell his story to New York’s senators and representatives.
Robert is a tenant at The Castle, a transitional housing residence operated by the Fortune Society. Last month, Robert joined the Network, Homeless Services United and others for a trip to Albany to advocate for supportive housing programs. Other tenants and staffers from Fortune Society were scheduled to attend our advocacy day, and on a whim Robert asked if he could join. Everyone said of course.
Robert made quite the impression on those around him – everyone from our staff to the elected officials he met in meetings. He spoke of his experiences in housing and the services offered by Fortune to help him improve his reading and writing. He also read several poems he’d written, moving all those around him. As the Network gears up for its next big Albany advocacy day on Tuesday, March 18, we present a few words from Robert on his experiences in Albany. We encourage all of our members to reach out to their tenants to see if they’d like to attend our advocacy day on March 18. We’d love to have them join us. Robert, for his part, plans to attend again.
It was a sudden and unexpected trip, but it was an experience of a lifetime.
What started as a joke question – “Can I go?” – quickly became a reality. There I was on a three-hour trip to Albany, not knowing what to expect. I had an immediate flashback to my trip to Washington when I was in junior high school. After the trip, I and my class had to write an essay about our experience in Washington. Because of my poor reading and writing at the time, my essay was never completed. That’s why this is a joy, to be asked to write a few lines about my trip to Albany. I finally have a sense of completion of my junior high essay.
As I walked into the building, I was in awe of how huge the building was. The first thing that got my attention was the beautiful statues and paintings in the building. It seemed as time quickly passed, I felt as if I became a part of the staff. At 6’5”, I felt that day so much bigger. Not like Robert Hart, the client at Fortune, but more like Mr. Robert Hart, team member and staff. I wanted so much to be a part of what was taking place that day in Albany.
I knew there was something I could say, about how Fortune has been a great asset to my life and others and how Fortune is a great organization to keep up and running, so I got up and took the floor.
Because of my inability to read and write through high school and my young adult years, I take special pride in the poems I put together. I learned creative writing from Fortune. They enhanced my writing skills.
Thanks to everyone who enjoyed my poems, there will be more to follow.
To read two of Robert’s poems, see here and here. For a rundown of our chief advocacy goals this month, see this story.
| New York State, New York City03.06.2014
Alan Epstein accepts his Private Sector Partner of the Year award at the Network's 2008 Awards Gala: (left to right) Bill Traylor, Alan Epstein and Ted Houghton.
The Network has created a new internship program in honor of Alan Epstein, a dear friend and board member who passed away in 2013.
As a partner at Hirschen Singer & Epstein, Mr. Epstein was a longtime champion of New York’s supportive housing community. His work impacted the lives of thousands of tenants, advocates and housing providers. Starting this summer, the Alan Epstein Internship in Supportive Housing will allow one law student or recent law school graduate each year to follow in his footsteps.
This internship program is possible thanks to an outpouring of donations made following Mr. Epstein’s death in September. Among the many organizations and individuals to offer donations were the Richman Group, Hirschen Singer & Epstein, the Hudson Companies, Dunn Development Corporation, Mega Contracting and Chicago Title Insurance Company.
The Network will begin accepting applications for this internship within the next few weeks.
“Alan was a brilliant strategist, an energetic advocate, an exceptionally practical policy wonk who’s legal work vastly improved the lives of tens of thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers,” said Bill Traylor, Chair of the Network’s Board of Directors. “If this internship produces just one more Alan, then it will have provided extraordinary service to the city and vastly exceeded expectations.”
Each Alan Epstein intern will focus his or her work on a specific policy or development issue that, if resolved, would facilitate the creation of more supportive housing. The Network hopes that this annual internship will help to create a new generation of leaders in supportive housing and development. Interns will operate out of both the Network’s office and the offices of Hirschen Singer & Epstein. This internship is paid and will last eight to 12 weeks. We hope to have our first Alan Epstein intern this summer.
Continue Reading … |03.06.2014
The Network hosted old friends, announced changes to its Board of Directors and unveiled a very special new internship at its annual meeting on February 27.
More than 150 members of our community gathered at Scandinavia House in Manhattan for the event. Our 2014 annual meeting offered our colleagues a chance to reminisce, network and look toward the upcoming year – all over drinks and hors d’oeuvres from Project Renewal’s Comfort Foods.
To browse a slideshow of recently-opened supportive housing residences featured at the meeting, click here. A slideshow of 100 images from the year in supportive housing can be viewed here.
This year’s event marked several changes to the Network’s Board of Directors. The Network said both farewell and congratulations last week to Shola Olatoye, the new Chairwoman of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). Before her appointment into the de Blasio administration, Ms. Olatoye was a Vice President at Enterprise Community Partners and a member of our Board of Directors.
“Shola is just the perfect choice for NYCHA,” Network Executive Director Ted Houghton said at the event. “She knows about development, she knows about vulnerable families, she knows about New York City, she knows about neighborhoods. The mayor is so lucky to have her, and we're lucky to have her.”
Continue Reading … | Network Events