New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) Bureau of Housing and Support Services
Accepting the award for Outstanding Government Partner of the Year (left to right): BHSS Assistant Director Brett Hebner, Deputy Commissioner Linda Glassman, Director Scott Edwards and Executive Deputy Commissioner Beth Berlin.
For decades, the New York State Office of Temporary Disability and Assistance (OTDA) and its Bureau of Housing and Support Services (BHSS) have been at the vanguard of implementing strategies to eradicate homelessness in New York State. The agency’s Homeless Housing and Assistance Program (HHAP) has invested $788.5 million to create nearly 14,000 units of supportive housing for homeless families and individuals since its inception in 1983. The agency provides service funding for 14,000 units of permanent and transitional housing each year.
But in 2011, OTDA took it up a notch. As part of the Governor’s focus on making government more efficient, the agency consolidated their six homeless service programs into two distinct initiatives, while also maintaining these programs’ funding—including funding for the Supported Housing for Families and Young Adults program. This was a major victory for the state’s neediest in a draconian budget environment. Not only will the consolidation make the programs more nimble, it will also give SHFYA a budgetary home; the program will now be funded by state general funds rather than TANF, a funding stream that has been subject to repeated cuts over the past three years.
The BHSS staff is perhaps best known for its seemingly inexhaustible energy helping nonprofits along every step of the development process, from “glint in the eye” to opening. While especially helpful to newer developers, the BHSS staff has durable relations with developers that span decades. The OTDA staff’s bedrock commitment to helping people without homes was clearly on display during its recent, tireless efforts on behalf of people affected by Hurricane Irene and the related flooding upstate.
The Network would like to thank all of the staff at the OTDA Bureau of Housing and Support Services for their progressive leadership and steadfast commitment to ending homelessness in New York State, with special recognition to: Elizabeth Berlin, Executive Deputy Commissioner, and Linda Glassman, Deputy Commissioner, Center for Specialized Services; Scott Edwards, Director; and Assistant Directors Richard Umholtz, Colleen Salvagni and Brett Hebner.
For its long-time, resolute commitment to supportive housing, the Network honors the OTDA Bureau of Housing and Support Services with its 2011 Government Partner of the Year award.