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Grand Opening Held for Hour Children Apartment House III
May.08.2014
It was a celebratory day in Queens yesterday as Hour Children commemorated the grand opening of its third supportive housing residence.
Hour Children Apartment House III provides housing and services for 18 highly vulnerable families in the neighborhood of Long Island City. This pristine new residence houses 16 formerly homeless families through the New York/New York III Supportive Housing Agreement and two low-income families from the community. As in all of its supportive housing residences, Hour Children placed an emphasis on housing formerly incarcerated mothers and their children with its new project. The residence first opened its doors late last year and has already begun to flourish as a home for some of our neediest families.
Yesterday’s ribbon-cutting was a festive, colorful affair marked by guest speeches, prayer, song and dance. The event began with introductory remarks from Sister Tesa Fitzgerald, the CNN Hero and Executive Director of Hour Children. Her remarks gave way to the National Anthem, as sung by students from VOICE Charter School. A pastor from the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer then led the many partners and friends of the residence in a brief prayer.
Unified Funding Round Awards Announced
May.06.2014
NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) has announced the capital awards for its 2013 Unified Funding Round, which allocates federal 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credits and Housing Trust Fund dollars to affordable housing development projects.
Based on the Network’s preliminary analysis, the 2013 Unified Funding Round finances a total of 164 supportive housing units. This number represents a decrease from 2012, when 389 units saw funding. Supportive housing accounted for 8% of the 2,092 affordable units funded this year. In an average year, supportive housing comprises 17% of the units funded through the UFR. Much of this drop can be attributed to the forthcoming end of the New York/New York III Supportive Housing Agreement, a 10-year commitment that concludes next year.
Of the 37 projects funded, seven include supportive housing apartments. In total, Low Income Housing Tax Credits funded $2.3 million in supportive housing projects. Those funded include:
National Low Income Housing Coalition Holds Annual Conference
May.06.2014
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The Network was proud to participate in the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC)’s annual conference in Washington, DC last month. The event included a keynote address from US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, who praised the coalition’s 40-year history of fighting for affordable housing. He recalled that in his earlier days at HUD, under then-Secretary Andrew Cuomo, he frequently saw Coalition founder Cushing Dolbeare have lunch with his boss. “Cushing was my hero’s hero,” the Secretary related.
We were honored to participate this year as both workshop presenters and New York State captains for the advocacy day held after the conference.
Network Executive Director Ted Houghton presented on a panel on the Affordable Care Act, in which he highlighted New York’s Medicaid Redesign efforts. The panel also featured Christine Campbell of Housing Works, the organization behind the Housing Is Healthcare campaign, and Peggy Bailey, CSH’s expert on healthcare. The Network’s Steve Piasecki appeared on several panels to discuss another federal campaign, United for Homes. In a conversation led by Coalition Executive Director Sheila Crowley, Mr. Piasecki shared the challenges and successes of gaining support for United for Homes in New York. Mr. Piasecki also had the privilege of introducing Mark Johnston of HUD for the annual “Ask HUD” session.
NYC Mayor’s 10-Year Housing Plan Urges Investment in Supportive Housing
May.05.2014
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio today issued “Housing New York,” a plan to build or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing over the next 10 years. The plan offers innovative strategies to increase affordability and broad unit production goals, including a plan to work with New York State to expand supportive housing development. Mayor de Blasio unveiled his housing plan at 262 Ashland Place, the site of a mixed-income housing project currently in development by Gotham Development Corporation and Network members Common Ground and The Actor’s Fund.
“Housing New York” outlines over 50 proposals to develop or preserve these new units of affordable housing. The plan states that supportive housing should serve an integral role in the fight to end homelessness and create new housing opportunities for vulnerable New Yorkers. It specifically advocates for the creation of a new supportive housing agreement between New York City and New York State as a follow up to the successful, 10-year New York/New York III Supportive Housing Agreement that is ending next year.
The Network fully supports this critical proposal to expand access to supportive housing across New York City.
“Mayor de Blasio’s housing plan provides the exact solutions we need to end our city’s record levels of homelessness,” said Ted Houghton, Executive Director of the Supportive Housing Network of New York. “This crisis calls for a robust investment in supportive housing and other housing options for homeless, disabled and very low-income individuals and families. The housing plan released today will work toward those goals. We’re especially pleased that the plan calls for a new City-State initiative to expand upon the successes of the previous New York/New York Agreements.”
New Members-Only Features Arrive at Shnny.org
May.01.2014
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We're excited to announce two major changes to the Members section of our website! The newly-revamped shnny.org now allows users to create individual user accounts and join forums to discuss issues related to supportive housing. You'll find more details about these new features below. To get started, head here to create your new user login.
Personal User Accounts
Our website now allows anyone who works at one of our member organizations to create a personalized user account. Simply follow this link to complete our member registration form. Creating an account grants you access to a host of members-only features. You'll be able to post jobs to our Jobs Board, browse sensitive member resources, ask us questions, request access to our new forums and more. We encourage anyone who works at one of our 300-plus member organizations to take advantage of this new members-only feature.
Network Forums
We've also launched Network Forums, a new series of message boards for our most active members. These forums allow our members to discuss specific issues at length and in privacy. We've kicked off this feature with an initial eight forums, each on a different facet of supportive housing: property management, emergency preparedness, young adult housing and more. To receive access to a forum, you must first complete the member registration form linked above. You must then contact us requesting access to a specific forum. Please note: To maintain trust and privacy, forum access is limited to individuals who have direct experience with the forum's central topic.
We're very excited to offer you these new web features. If you have any questions, or if you'd like to learn more about these upgrades, please don't hesitate to drop us a line!