Showing Posts by Date: 03/2019
03.25.2019
On March 6th, Network Executive Director Laura Mascuch testified at the New York City Council Committee on Finance’s hearing for the Fiscal Year 2020 Preliminary Budget. She expressed gratitude on behalf of the supportive housing community for the City’s commitment to NYC 15/15 and the Council’s recent request to the administration for its acceleration. Laura then underscored the remaining, urgent need for at least $20 million in funding to augment woefully underfunded service and operating contracts in 1,800 scattered site units contracted by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH).
Continue Reading …03.22.2019
On February 28th, about a week before the Network’s annual Lobby Day, some 40 member staff and tenants joined the Network for an interactive workshop generously hosted by Urban Pathways at the Ivan Shapiro House in Manhattan. The training featured everything from the fundamentals of the state budget process to how to navigate the Capitol Building. Yet an overarching goal was to incorporate tenants’ and staff’s real-life experiences in order to forcefully communicate the need for additional funding for supportive housing.
Continue Reading … | New York State, Network Events03.18.2019
About 100 people gathered on March 1st under a heated tent in the Bronx to celebrate Hebrew Home at Riverdale’s groundbreaking of Arthur Avenue Apartments, the result of its second collaboration with Foxy Management. The building promises 54 supportive housing units reserved for formerly homeless or chronically medically ill residents out of a total of 176 affordable housing units dedicated to low-income older adults.
Shelly Fox, president and CEO of Foxy Management, and Jeff Fox, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Foxy Management, welcomed attendees and introduced the special guests to the event — including Jeff Fox’s one-year-old son. This was especially symbolic given that the Fox family’s presence in the Bronx had begun four generations earlier with Shelly Fox’s father settling first in the borough, where Foxy Management is based.
Continue Reading … | New York City, Member News, Groundbreakings03.15.2019
On March 13th, the New York State Assembly and Senate passed their budget bills, and began negotiations with the Executive office with the aim of passing a finalized budget by April 1st. For the latest information on the Prevailing Wage legislation, please visit this page.)
Continue Reading … | Funding, New York State, Research03.12.2019
The Supportive Housing Network is excited to help announce the launch of the Down Payment Assistance Fund (DPAF), whose creation resulted from a multi-year collaboration among stakeholders seeking to accelerate supportive housing development in New York City. DPAF is intended to assist nonprofit developers with down payments on property, allowing them to move more rapidly into contract for privately-owned sites. The nonprofits’ ownership will ensure the long-term affordability of the housing developed with DPAF as well as provide critical social services. Eligible projects will include supportive housing residences, in which the majority of units are supportive, and affordable residences in which at least 30 percent of units are set aside as supportive.
Continue Reading … | Funding, New York City, Member News03.11.2019
One of the Network’s most beloved days of the year – Lobby Day – began at the crack of dawn on March 5th with staff and tenants from all over the state traveling to Albany for a day of impressing on state legislators the urgent need for increased, adequate funding for new and existing supportive housing. More than 100 tenants and staff from more than 30 organizations met with more than 60 legislators and their staff.
One of the most powerful aspects of our meetings was the presence of tenants who shared real-life stories of how supportive housing has transformed their lives in a holistic, sustainable way. As one tenant said with the conviction of a lived experience:
“Supportive housing is not only a place to be or a roof over the head, but a set of tools and services that empower a person to get back up… and stay up.”
Continue Reading … | New York State, Network Events