Network Newsfeed

True Colors- New York’s first supportive housing for LGBTQ homeless youth

Sep.24.2018

True Colors Residence (TCR), a project of West End Residences, was the first permanent supportive housing for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) youth with a history of homelessness. This profoundly underserved population is estimated to make up nearly 40% of homeless youth in New York City. Opening in September 2011 in Harlem, it offers 30 units of supportive housing for formerly homeless LGBTQ New Yorkers aged 18-24.

True Colors was developed in partnership with Grammy-award winning artist Cyndi Lauper and her manager, longtime West End Residences volunteer Lisa Barbaris. It arose from a simple question: What can nonprofits do to help LGBTQ homeless youth in New York City? Lauper discussed the issue with her manager Lisa Barbaris and then Executive Director of West End Residences, Colleen Jackson. The three arrived at a bold, untried solution: supportive housing. 

"I'm lost for words; I'm so happy right now," said Priscilla Rumnit, one of the building’s tenants. "I’m just so excited for this place. Here, I know that I'm safe.”

True Colors in Harlem was just the beginning of the legacy of West End Residences to provide housing to the LGBTQ homeless youth. A second True Colors Bronx opened doors in 2015 and West End Residences has plans to open up a True Colors in all five boroughs of New York City. 

 

 

 

 

The Network Goes Statewide

Sep.21.2018

In 2002, The Network put down roots in Albany to become more effective in its statewide advocacy efforts and to grow the supportive housing movement beyond New York City. Watch the video above to hear from our two staff members about the importance of The Network going statewide!

The Culhane Study

Sep.20.2018

In 2001, in collaboration with the Corporation for Supportive Housing, a research team from the University of Pennsylvania published the first-ever study to measure the impacts of supportive housing. It was the most comprehensive study to date on the effects of homelessness and service-enriched housing on mentally ill individuals’ use of publicly funded services. 

Titled "Public Service Reductions Associated with Placement of Homeless Persons with Severe Mental Illness in Supportive Housing," It tracks the public service use of 4,679 homeless, mentally ill New York City residents from 1989 to 1997. The “Culhane Report,” as it’s often referred to, quantifies costs of both homelessness and supportive housing. It does this by comparing how frequently homeless people and supportive housing tenants use services such as psychiatric inpatient care and emergency rooms. 

Dennis Culhane and his coauthors calculate that a homeless, mentally ill person on the streets of New York City costs taxpayers $40,451 a year -- in 1999 dollars. Supportive housing reduces these annual costs by a net $16,282 per housing unit. This study was written by Dennis P. Culhane, Stephen Metraux and Trevor Hadley. 

Nine Key Achievements of the NY/NY III Agreement

Sep.19.2018

In November 2005, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki signed NY/NY III, committing to create 9,000 units of supportive housing for a variety of disabled homeless people in New York City over ten years. The Agreement marked the largest commitment to creating housing for homeless people in the nation's history.

 

1) The size, scope and scale of the agreement was unprecedented

The NY/NY III Supportive Housing Agreement was larger and more comprehensive than its predecessors, with a ten-year goal of creating 9,000 units of supportive housing : 6,250 units of new supportive housing and subsidize 2,750 scattered-site supported housing units in existing buildings.

 

2) Facilitated unprecedented City/State interagency coordination

With ten City and State government agencies signing NY/NY III and an additional three unofficial but critical agencies participating, the Agreement brought about unparalleled interagency collaboration all focused on the goal of reducing chronic homelessness.

3) First long-term agreement to provide service and operating funding for at-risk young adults, families and those struggling with chronic substance abuse.

The first two NY/NY agreements provided housing and services solely for individuals with mental illness. This third agreement expanded the housing and services to tenant populations with a variety of special needs. New target populations include families with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI) and medical disabilities, youth aging out of foster care or leaving psychiatric facilities, and individuals with substance abuse, both active and in recovery.

4) Detailed plan set clear annual unit goals and funding requirements

NY/NY III’s prescriptive nature – laying out how many and what type of units (scattered site or congregate) were to be created for each population – helped ensure that the participating agencies would meet the Agreement’s timeline and funding needs.

 

5) Created “name recognition” boosting investor confidence

The linking of dependable rental subsidies and service funding to support the capital investment created a name recognition with NY/NY III that allayed investors’ concerns about housing extremely low-income, disabled tenants.

6) Expanded the nonprofit developer pool by 60%

NY/NY III commitment jumpstarted and increased the volume of supportive housing development. In turn, the agreement’s scope increased the supportive housing community’s development capacity: thirty new nonprofits began to build supportive housing in the city – a 60% increase in the number that had been developing before.

7) Increased use of Joint Ventures

Prior to NY/NY III, only one for-profit affordable housing developer collaborated with nonprofits to develop supportive housing. The size and scope of NY/NY III however helped spawn eighteen joint ventures.

8) Sharp decrease among street homeless

Focus on chronic homelessness led to an early decrease among street homeless of 49%

 

9) Embedded evaluation component

NY/NY III called for and funded an ongoing multi-tiered evaluation of the commitment. The first interim report published by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found that the early years of implementation led to a cost savings across systems of $10,100 per person.

Read the Network's Taking Stock of NY/NY III for more information.

Residents of Supportive Housing

Sep.18.2018

Supportive Housing provides our most vulnerable neighbors a life of dignity and support. The St. Francis Residences were founded in the early 1980’s by the Fathers John who found a way to house and provide care to homeless New Yorkers who were suffering from mental illnesses.