Newsfeed Category: New York City

Findings Released from 2013 Survey of NYC Homeless Youth

Nov.20.2013

A new report on youth homelessness offers insights on the plight of young adults living on the street in New York City.

Yesterday, the New York City Coalition on the Continuum of Care (NYC CCoC) released a report on the results of a 2013 survey of unaccompanied NYC homeless youth. The report synthesizes the results of a 27-question survey administered to homeless young adults on the night of January 28, 2013.

Among its startling findings, A Count of Unaccompanied Homeless Youths in New York City reveals that the median duration of homelessness for these young adults is 730 days, or roughly two years. You can read the entire report here. For a quick summary of its findings, see this handout.

The report was commissioned by the CCoC’s Youth Committee, a body co-chaired by the Network and the Ali Forney Center. The report reveals a number of distressing traits about those surveyed:

• 40% indentified as either gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered.
• 90% were either black or Latino.
• 66% left their homes before the age of 18.
• 25% were pregnant or parenting.
• 53% have had contact with the criminal justice system.
• 34% cited physical, mental or sexual abuse as a reason for becoming homeless.
• Only 47% have a high school diploma, despite the average respondent being 21 years old.

Ribbon Cutting Held for Navy Green

Nov.01.2013

More than 200 people gathered on October 31 to celebrate the development of Navy Green, a massive new mixed-income, market rate and supportive housing development in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Wallabout.

The event marked the end of the first phase of development. This initial phase includes two mixed-income multifamily buildings and a 97-unit supportive housing residence. Once completed, Navy Green will enliven an entire city block with five residences and an expansive courtyard and garden. The final project will include a diverse mix of housing types and income levels, from market-rate townhouses to supportive housing for formerly homeless individuals.

The supportive housing residence, 40 Vanderbilt Ave., houses 59 formerly homeless and 38 low-income individuals. The formerly homeless tenants are all housed through funding from the NY/NY III Agreement.

Thursday’s ribbon-cutting was a who’s-who of New York supportive housing. Martin Dunn of Dunn Development Corporation and Deb Howard of Pratt Area Community Council served as the masters of ceremonies for the morning event. The two welcomed the crowd and introduced an impressive slate of guest speakers. Both hosts stressed the public-private-nonprofit partnership that helped make Navy Green a reality and the historic nature of the building site, which had previously been abandoned.

Coalition Sparks Homelessness Discussion at Final NYC Debate

Oct.31.2013

United to End Homelessness held two Twitter rallies this month to urge New York City's mayoral candidates and debate moderators to discuss homelessness during the final debates leading up to NYC's citywide election on November 5. The most recent of these rallies was held on Monday, when more than 55 organizations (including the Network) took to Twitter to call on Bill de Blasio, Joe Lhota and moderator Melissa Russo to "Home in on Homelessness."

Yesterday, the coalition's efforts paid off. After several debates in which the word "homeless" was never uttered, moderators at last asked both candidates to detail their plans to reduce NYC's record level of homelessness. You'll find a transcript of the exchange below. To watch the entire debate, head here. You can read the tweets from October's Twitter rallies by following this link.

Moderator:

The number of homeless people spending the night in city shelters recently surpassed 51,000, which is now more than the number of seats at Yankee Stadium. That’s a 64% increase since 2002, when Mayor Bloomberg took office. Have the Bloomberg administration’s policies on homelessness failed, and, if so, what specifically would you do differently? Mr. Lhota, you’re up first.

Network Talks Housing, Homelessness on New Radio Show

Oct.24.2013

The Network’s Ted Houghton appeared on “Human Services News and Views” this week to discuss two new campaigns to address homelessness and housing in New York City.

In a dialogue with program host Allison Sesso, Mr. Houghton spoke about the Housing First! campaign to expand and preserve affordable housing and the United to End Homelessness coalition of homeless and housing advocates. Both organizations have run campaigns this year to educate NYC’s mayoral candidates. They’ve also both released detailed policy manuals for the next mayor, titled Building Stronger and A Roadmap to Ending Homelessness. You can listen to the episode here and learn more about Housing First! and United to End Homelessness here.

“We’re very much encouraged that both candidates are talking about affordable housing,” Mr. Houghton said during the program. “The fact is that the next mayor has to do something about this issue. The good news is there are proven strategies that he can adopt to really make a dent in both the housing problem and the homelessness problem.”

CAMBA Holds Ribbon Cutting for 97 Crooke Ave.

Oct.11.2013

A capacity crowd gathered yesterday to celebrate the grand opening of CAMBA’s newest supportive housing residence. 

97 Crooke Avenue, also known as the Reverend Dan Ramm Residence, brings 53 units of supportive and low-income housing to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush. This $15.3 million development now houses a mix of formerly homeless adults who suffer from mental illness and low-income individuals from the community.

Yesterday’s festivities were distinctive and unique in several ways. Before entering the nine-story residence, attendees noshed on high-quality, organic donuts from a food truck parked just outside the residence.

Once inside, the roughly 100 guests heard the story of 97 Crooke Ave., a residence that brought many disparate partners together in the name of providing housing and support services to formerly homeless and low-income New Yorkers. 

Joanne Oplustil, CAMBA President/CEO and a Network Board Member, introduced each of the day’s guest speakers. NYS Rep. Rhoda Jacobs was the first to take the podium to congratulate and praise CAMBA.

“We know that decent, affordable housing is less costly to society than shelters, and yet we struggle for resources,” said Rep. Jacobs. “Fortunately, we have a warrior in Joanne.”

Ground Broken on Second MRT Supportive Housing Project

Oct.10.2013

Common Ground held a ground-breaking ceremony yesterday for the second NYC supportive housing residence to begin construction using NYS Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) capital funding.

The project, Boston Road, will bring 154 units of supportive housing to the Bronx. The residence will provide housing and services to a mix of low-income and formerly homeless individuals and seniors.

Dozens of friends and partners gathered on Wednesday to celebrate the start of construction. The event included a number of illustrious guest speakers, including NYS Homes & Community Renewal (HCR) Commissioner Darryl Towns, former NYC Council Member Helen Foster and NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Deputy Commissioner Eric Enderlin. Common Ground Executive Director Brenda Rosen served as the master of ceremonies for the late-morning event. 

“This is a creative approach to dealing with an epidemic [of homelessness],” Ms. Foster said.  “Let this be an example of what we do going forth in the city.” 

Gala Honoree: Frank Lipton

Oct.09.2013

Click here for information on tickets to our Gala!

Dr. Frank R. Lipton is the quintessential unsung hero. A key government partner at the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA) for almost three decades, he has played an instrumental, behind-the-scenes role in the supportive housing movement. With little fanfare, Dr. Lipton helped to create the program design, referral and data tracking mechanisms that made supportive housing the successful, widely-replicated model it is today. Thanks to his service, thousands of formerly homeless and disabled New Yorkers have a home tonight. 

Dr. Lipton has been a constant behind New York’s historic New York/New York supportive housing agreements. He helped guide the design and passage of NY/NY I under Mayor Ed Koch and its ultimate signatory, Mayor David Dinkins. He helped usher in NY/NY II under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and then in 2005 was at the forefront again for a NY/NY III agreement under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. When all is said and done, the combined NY/NY commitments will have created nearly 15,000 supportive housing apartments – by far the largest supportive housing program in the country.

“Frank was a major mover and shaker in the creation of the first NY/NY Agreement, and he has remained a steadfast friend and advocate of supportive housing tenants and providers for the past 25 years,” says Tony Hannigan, Executive Director of the Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS). “Our community has been truly fortunate to have the quality and dedication of his leadership during four administrations.”

Drawing on his academic and professional background, Dr. Lipton has been a vital source of data on the outcomes associated with supportive housing.

Gala Honoree: True Colors Residence

Oct.08.2013

Click here for information on tickets to our Gala!

True Colors Residence is quite literally one of a kind: The first – and only – supportive housing residence for homeless and runaway lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) young people AND the first New York supportive housing project associated with a genuine star. 

This trailblazing residence is the result of the fortuitous pairing of West End Residences and musical icon (and recent Tony-winner) Cyndi Lauper. Long an LGBT advocate, Ms Lauper helped raise funds for True Colors, which is named after her 1986 song and album.

“The True Colors Residence provides these young people with a real home and the leg up and encouragement that will help them make it in the world,” says Ms Lauper.

To the 30 young adults who live here, the residence is an oasis from life on the street, which can be especially treacherous for LGBT youth – who make up an estimated 40% of all homeless youth in NYC.

“When my family rejected me for being transgender, I remember asking myself, ‘Where am I going to sleep? What am I going to eat?’” says True Colors Residence tenant Trina Carter. “Now, here I am at True Colors Residence, a place to better my life. What else can I ask for?”

Removing the Red Tape in Housing Homeless New Yorkers

Oct.07.2013

In May of this year, a diverse representation from the NYC homeless housing community and Continuum of Care traveled to Chicago for a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-sponsored retreat, a.k.a. "boot camp," to brainstorm what our biggest barriers were in housing chronically homeless veterans and other individuals and what we could do in the next 100 days to speed up the process. As a result of these collective efforts, the City is looking toward reducing the very longest time it takes to house a chronically street homeless person by 64%. It's also looking to recapture nearly $10 million in HUD funding.

Facilitated by the Rapid Results Institute and 100,000 Homes, the event included the NYC Departments of Homeless Services (DHS), Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) as well as the Network, Enterprise Community Partners, Homeless Services United, Common Ground, Goddard Riverside Community Center and Samaritan Village. Representatives from these agencies and organizations met for three days in Chicago.

Deciding what to focus on became easy once we cobbled together the following facts:

• NYC is sending back millions each year - an estimated $10 million this year alone in federal homeless housing assistance - because of a flaw in the HUD regulations and inconclusive guidance from Washington on how to keep that money in the city.
• It was taking an estimated 314 days and 24 steps to place our hardest to house - chronically street homeless individuals - into our most complicated supportive housing: NY/NY III housing with project based Section 8 rental subsidies. While it takes considerably less time to house the average homeless person in supportive housing, it was clear from mapping out the process that there was significant room for improvement for all referrals.
• It is difficult to target the inflow of veteran funding toward chronically homeless veterans in NYC because of the data-sharing challenges at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 

New Coalition Releases “A Roadmap to Ending Homelessness”

Oct.07.2013

United to End Homelessness has released a comprehensive policy book to guide New York City’s next mayor and City Council in the effort to end homelessness. 

The book, titled A Roadmap to Ending Homelessness, is available to download here. It expands upon United to End Homelessness’ original policy platform, which the coalition unveiled earlier this year. You can read a New York Daily News op-ed on the release of the policy book here.

“Our hope is that this briefing book provides the next administration with the research, ideas and motivation to develop and start implementing a plan to end homelessness on day one,” says Network Deputy Executive Director Nicole Branca, who served as one of many co-authors on A Roadmap to Ending Homelessness.

United to End Homelessness is a coalition of over 130 homeless advocates, providers, homeless and formerly homeless individuals, faith leaders and other organizations from across New York City. The coalition formed to address the city’s current, record-high levels of homelessness. On any given night in NYC, 57,000 individuals sleep either in shelters or on the street. That number includes a staggering 22,000 children.