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NYC 15/15 Panel with HRA, HPD, and DOHMH

Oct.11.2017

A full house at the Network's NYC 15/15 panel.

Some 90 providers, investors, lawyers and city and state government representatives gathered at Fortune Society’s Castle Gardens on September 28th to hear about the City’s NYC 15/15 initiative which seeks to create 15,000 new units of supportive housing over the next fifteen years. The panel, moderated by our own Laura Mascuch, featured HRA Deputy Commissioner of Supportive/Affordable Housing & Services Kristin Misner Gutierrez, HPD Deputy Director of the Supportive Housing Loan Program Theresa Cassano, and DOHMH Senior Director, Office of Housing Services Gail Wolsk.  Of special interest to those in attendance was information about the City’s newly minted rental assistance program which will be separate from service contracts and entirely funded by the City’s tax levy funds.

Stanley Richards of Fortune Society welcomed guests with a wish that the residence in which the panel was situated served as an inspiration to those developing the next wave of supportive housing.

Kristin Misner Gutierrez presented a quick overview of NYC 15/15 – both the congregate and the scattered site programs. She summarized the six month process through which the City and the provider community  used data and on-the-ground experience to develop recommendations for improving systems and rates, recommendations that the City then integrated into NYC 15/15. She also laid out the City’s expectations as to how many units will go to which populations, both in terms of scattered site and single site units.

Gail Wolsk then summarized some of the innovations in service contracts that are new under NYC 15/15, including 1:15 caseloads, programs for families that must include services for children, and the requirement that services be evidence-informed.

Theresa Cassano then took over, laying out for the first time the City’s rental assistance program that will be paired with the NYC 15/15 service contracts. She explained that both service and rental assistance contracts can be used in a number of HPD programs beyond the Supportive Housing Loan Program, including ELLA and Mix and Match. The new subsidy will closely resemble Project Based Section 8, although, because the funding is all City tax levy, the subsidy will not trigger Davis-Bacon. Ms. Cassano told attendees that HPD has been meeting with both providers and investors about the subsidy program to address questions and concerns.

The presentation was followed by a lively question and answer period covering a range of concerns about both the scattered site and the single site programs. Panelists also stayed after the session ended to answer participants’ questions one-on-one.

Stay tuned for a Guest Blog Post from the three participants answering frequently asked questions.

The Network’s Getting to 35K Initiative

Sep.25.2017


The Network's recent panel on the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative (ESSHI).

Ever since last year, when the state and city committed to create 35,000 new units of supportive housing in two separate initiatives over the next fifteen years, the Network has focused on supporting our community in meeting this unprecedented opportunity. 27,500 of these units will be single-site. The state’s commitment of 20,000 of these units – the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative (ESSHI) –  will be developed through an annual statewide RFP process, while New York City’s 7,500 single-site units – part of NYC 15/15 – will be developed through an open, rolling RFP. The total number of units is three times that of any previous commitment.

The Network has embarked on a multi-year Getting to 35K Initiative for our nonprofit community. Last winter, we surveyed members to gauge their interest in developing supportive housing and to identify any  impediments to the process. The results of this survey pointed us towards the types of trainings, convenings, and connections our nonprofit members needed to move forward.

In the first eight months of 2017, we convened our state partners for an ESSHI question and answer session which was attended by 100 members of our community. In February, we piloted  a small, hands-on training on how to structure a joint venture with representatives from ShermanLaw, Bank of America, and Richman Housing Resources. Throughout the spring, we presented at various forums to help faith-based organizations partner with affordable and supportive housing developers, including a gathering we hosted with the Mayor’s Center for Faith and Community Partnerships. Eight of our annual conference workshops were aimed at helping the supportive housing community implement NYC 15/15 and ESSHI.  And in July, we held our first Joint Venture ‘mixer’ – bringing together for-profit developers and nonprofits interested in partnering to develop supportive housing…in a bar!

Over the next several months, we will be holding a number of events across the state on topics including financing a tax credit deal, joint ventures, and HCR’s unified funding process. While we will be sending out specific invitations to each of these events, we wanted to keep you abreast of what we’re planning to offer.

We would love to hear your thoughts on what else the Network could do to help us all meet our collective vision: ending chronic homelessness in New York State through the creation of sufficient supportive housing.

The Network would like to thank our funders for the Getting to 35K Initiative, without their support this work would not be possible: Bank of America, Capital One, Deutsche Bank, New York Community Trust, the Oak Foundation, Robin Hood, JP Morgan Chase, and the van Ameringen Foundation.

Medicaid Redesign Team Supportive Housing Program

Sep.20.2017

Panelists address the crowd at the presentation of the Medicaid Redesign Team Supportive Housing Program evaluations.

Some 70 representatives from a broad spectrum of health and housing organizations gathered at the offices of Robin Hood September 12th for a presentation on first year evaluations of the Medicaid Redesign Team Supportive Housing Program by representatives of the Department of Health (DOH) and SUNY Albany. 

Welcomed by Robin Hood’s Managing Director for Health programs, Sarah Oltmans, the Network’s Laura Mascuch then framed the morning’s focus and introduced the presenters. She also summarized the Evaluation’s overall findings: that the programs reduced inpatient days by 40%; reduced emergency department visits by 26%; reduced rehab admissions by 44% and inpatient psych admissions by 27%; and reduced overall Medicaid spend by 15%.

DOH Deputy Medicaid Director Liz Misa kicked off the presentation by giving an overview of the MRT program, by far the largest investment in housing by any state health agency in the country. To date the program has invested $641 million over seven years; served 11,000 high need Medicaid recipients, developed 19 rental subsidy and supportive service programs statewide, added 1,482 units to the state’s supportive housing inventory and prioritized placements in single-site residences for the most vulnerable Medicaid recipients. Ms. Misa then showed a brief film created by BronxWorks in which tenants of their Health Home Supportive Housing Pilot Program described the impact of having stable housing. That program has produced a 46% reduction for the first seven participants for whom they have data, according to the Bronx Health and Housing Consortium.

The research team from SUNY Albany then took over, unpacking cost and utilization data from the tenants of 11 MRT housing-related programs. Dr. Lauren Polvere led off, describing the tenants in terms of their demographics, ethnicity and chronic conditions. Dr. Sandra McGinnis and Dr. Diane Dewar took attendees through the utilization and cost reports, paying special attention to two of the supportive housing programs that had the most robust outcomes in cost and utilization – scattered-site programs for high-need Medicaid recipients run by the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) and the Office of Mental Health.

Representatives from city and state government, MRT supportive housing, Managed Care Organizations, foundations and health care professionals then participated in an hour-long discussion of the results and proposed next steps. Presenters told attendees that additional studies are being conducted to inform effective targeting of participants for the MRT units as well as to better understand unmet need. Ms. Misa left open the possibility of expansion or creation of new programs depending on budget discussions.

We thank the presenters as well as our Robin Hood hosts for the opportunity to discuss this groundbreaking work.

2017 Network Gala

Sep.18.2017


Executive Director Laura Mascuch addressing the 2016 Network gala.

There are only a few weeks left before our 2017 Awards Gala on Wednesday, October 18th at Capitale. We have much to celebrate this year, so please plan to attend this wonderful event! We'll be honoring RuthAnne Visnauskas Commissioner & CEO of NYS Homes & Community Renewal as Government Partner of the Year, for her pivotal role in securing the state’s landmark Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative as well as her part in ensuring its swift implementation. We are also delighted to honor the decades-long contributions of Deutsche Bank as Private Sector Partner of the Year, including Deutsche’s creation of the innovative DB Share program and the bank’s longstanding support of both the Network and our nonprofit providers.

We also look forward to honoring our outstanding supportive housing tenants and residences of the year.

The Network would like to thank our Gala co-chairs, Hercules Argyriou of Mega Contracting Group and Ralph Fasano of Concern for Independent Living and the Gala Committee for spearheading our fundraising efforts.

We look forward to seeing you and celebrating your achievements next month.

Hope you can join us!

2017 Network Awards Gala

Aug.01.2017

Please plan to attend the 2017 Network Gala on Wednesday, October 18th at Capitale. We have much to celebrate this year, so please save the date for this wonderful event!

We'll be honoring RuthAnne Visnauskas Commissioner & CEO of NYS Homes & Community Renewal as Government Partner of the Year, for her pivotal role in securing the state’s landmark Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative as well as her part in ensuring its swift implementation. We are also delighted to honor the decades-long contributions of Deutsche Bank as Private Sector Partner of the Year, including Deutsche’s creation of the innovative DB Share program and the bank’s longstanding support of both the Network and our nonprofit providers.

Our 2017 Gala Committee will be co-chaired by Hercules Argyriou of Mega Contracting and Ralph Fasano of Concern for Independent Living. This year’s Gala Committee includes Oliver Chase of Hirschen, Singer & Epstein, Mark Fuller of DePaul, Brenda Rosen of Breaking Ground, and William Traylor of Richman Housing Resources.

As usual, we will once again be honoring outstanding supportive housing tenants and residences and have just extended the nomination deadline for both to August 15th. Click here to nominate a residence, and here to nominate a tenant.  

We look forward to seeing you and celebrating your achievements this October!

Hope you can join us!

17th Annual Supportive Housing Conference

Jun.19.2017


Network Executive Director Laura Mascuch addressing the crowd at the 17th annual New York State Supportive Housing Conference.

The 17th Annual Supportive Housing Conference was a celebration of our community’s remarkable achievement in winning historic state and city commitments to create 35,000 supportive housing units over the next fifteen years. The Network’s new Board Chair Brenda Rosen welcomed the crowd. Network Executive Director Laura Mascuch introduced Assembly Member and key legislative ally Andrew Hevesi who reminded us of how much we’ve achieved, and of what challenges remain in the coming years. The National Executive Director of the Children’s Defense Fund Richard A. Hooks Wayman delivered a stirring keynote speech on the particular challenges facing homeless families and children in our country.

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17th Annual New York State Supportive Housing Conference Just Over One Week Away!

May.24.2017


Scenes from the 2016 conference.

We hope you will join us for the 17th Annual New York State Supportive Housing Conference! This year’s conference will take place on Thursday, June 1st at the New York Marriott Marquis in New York City. You may register online for this event through the end of the day, Friday, May 26th.

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Supportive Housing & Faith-Based Organizations Forum: Shared Mission to Care for New Yorkers in Need

May.22.2017


Sharing a blessing at the forum for leaders of faith institutions. Photo credit: Chris Lowry.

On May 12, the Network, in partnership with the Mayor’s Center for Faith and Community Partnerships, and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, hosted a forum for leaders of faith institutions who may want to either develop or champion supportive housing. Generously donated by Breaking Ground, the ballroom of their beautifully-restored supportive housing residence, The Prince George, served as a perfect setting for the event.

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2017 Annual Meeting Recap

Mar.20.2017


Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer addressing the crowd at Scandinavia House.

Network members gathered on the evening of March 9 at Scandinavia House for the Network’s Annual Meeting. Nonprofit providers, architects, developers and other members of our community came together to meet, mingle and hear about the past year’s accomplishments.

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Network’s Lobby Day : Meetings with 60+ Legislators in Albany

Mar.13.2017


Network members and Executive Director Laura Mascuch with Assembly Member Steven Cymbrowitz.

On March 1st, the Network hosted our annual Albany lobby day.  Over 130 of our members’ tenants and staff took part in over 60 legislative meetings, including face to face meetings with the Assembly Chairs of Social Services, Mental Health and Housing.

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