Newsfeed Category: New York City

Housing First! Co-Chairs Publish NYT Letter

Feb.19.2014

Two Network leaders published a letter to the editor in the New York Times last Friday. Their piece, posted here, responds to a February 7 editorial on the lack of affordable housing options in New York City. The letter was written by Network Executive Director Ted Houghton and Board Member Todd Gomez. Mr. Houghton and Mr. Gomez are also the co-Chairs of the Housing First! coalition.

In their NYT letter to the editor, Mr. Houghton and Mr. Gomez encourage Mayor Bill de Blasio to act quickly to reach his administration’s goal of creating 200,000 units of affordable housing in the next 10 years.

“The plan’s success will serve as a national model for other cities facing similar affordability challenges,” they write. “With so much to gain, there’s no time to lose.”

Housing First! also released a policy brief on the mayor’s housing plan earlier this month. If you haven’t already, we urge you to read and share Building Stronger, the Housing First! coalition’s detailed policy guide on affordable housing and the new administration.

Five Network Members Receive Funding to House Homeless Families

Feb.14.2014

In New York City, 70 homeless families will soon have access to housing and support services thanks to a funding announcement made yesterday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The State will award $1.75 million to five supportive housing nonprofits scattered across NYC. All five nonprofit providers are members of the Supportive Housing Network: Fortune Society, Odyssey House, Project Hospitality, Samaritan Village and Women In Need. This funding will support the creation of 70 units of supportive housing for homeless families struggling with an addiction to drugs or alcohol.

“Supportive housing programs are essential to breaking the cycle of homelessness for New York’s most vulnerable individuals and families,” said Gov. Cuomo. “These programs provide the vital support services necessary to help families maintain physical and emotional health, sustain healthy relationships and generally improve the overall quality of their lives.”

These funds are available through the NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS). They mark the latest round of funding through the New York/New York III Supportive Housing Agreement, a ten-year partnership between New York City and State to create 9,000 new units of supportive housing.

Mayor de Blasio Releases Preliminary Budget

Feb.13.2014

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio released his first preliminary budget yesterday. The document, available here, includes no major cuts and new funding in a few targeted priority areas, including housing and homelessness.

Delivering on a campaign promise, the mayor joined Governor Andrew Cuomo to cap the maximum contribution tenants receiving rent subsidies from the HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) must pay toward rent. The new budget allocates $4.3 million in fiscal year 2014 and $17.4 in FY 2015 to cap the rent contribution for HIV/AIDS housing clients at 30 percent. The state is picking up one-third of the cost.

The mayor also indicated that he is talking with the governor about a homelessness prevention pilot, which will fund rental assistance and anti-eviction legal services, among other prevention services. The budget contains no additional information, but there will be an announcement in the future.

The mayor also announced new funding for homeless and runaway youth. His budget provides $1.3 million in FY 2014 and $2.4 million in FY 2015 to add 76 shelter beds for the city’s homeless and runaway youth. He said services will include “emergency housing, food, clothing, individual and group housing, and limited transportation services.”

NYC Council, Mayoral Administration Takes Shape

Jan.30.2014

Mayor de Blasio Names Key Deputy Mayors, Commissioners

Jan.13.2014

(lefto to right) NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Dr. Lilliam Barrios-Paoli and First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris.

New York City’s 109th mayor has taken office. Following a campaign in which he regularly cited affordable housing as a key issue facing NYC, Mayor Bill de Blasio has begun the day-to-day work of running America’s largest city. The de Blasio administration continues to take shape as the mayor appoints deputy mayors, commissioners and other key officials. Many of these new appointees will have a direct impact on supportive housing and homelessness.

Key figures in the new administration so far include:

Alicia Glen, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development. In a symbolic break from her predecessors, Ms. Glen will explicitly include “housing” in her job title. She arrives at city government by way of Goldman Sachs, where she served for 12 years as the Managing Director of the Urban Investment Group, an entity that offers investments and loans in underserved neighborhoods. Prior to that, she served as Assistant Commissioner for Housing Finance at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). She is deeply familiar with supportive housing, having served on the board of CSH.

In her new position, Ms. Glen will oversee all economic development and housing-related city agencies, including HPD, the NYC Housing Development Corporation (HDC), and the NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA). Ms. Glen said in a statement: “We can’t remain the greatest city in the world when half of New Yorkers are living in or near poverty. We can do so much more to lift people up by investing in our neighborhoods, especially in the outer boroughs. Mayor de Blasio and I share the same vision. We believe in tough bargains that get the most out of every dollar we invest. And we believe that, with the right policies, we can raise the floor on workers’ wages, develop and preserve more affordable housing and give families a shot to make it here.”

Ms. Glen also served until recently on the Boards of Directors for Network members BRC and Enterprise Community Partners. Her appointment has been praised by members of the nonprofit and private sectors alike.

“Alicia Glen brings an unparalleled commitment, tenacity and a hefty dose of experience from the public and private sectors to helping the most underserved neighborhoods across New York,” said Terri Ludwig, President and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners.

Community Comes Together to Focus on Youth Homelessness

Jan.13.2014

Advocates, government officials, formerly homeless youth and others gather to map out ways to lower the number of NYC homeless youth on December 10, 2013.

Some 70 stakeholders working to end youth homelessness congregated on December 10 to map what resources NYC has and what it lacks to address the needs of homeless young people. The day-long work session, hosted by Robin Hood and led by the Youth Committee of the NYC Coalition on the Continuum of Care (CoC), brought together representatives from nine different city, state and federal government agencies; youth outreach, drop-in, housing and service provider organizations; homeless youth advocates and foundations; and most importantly, a number of young adults who had experienced homelessness themselves.

The forum was brilliantly facilitated by Abt Associates, courtesy of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and its continued provision of technical assistance experts to New York City.

While there is no comprehensive count of the number of homeless youth today, previous counts and a recent pilot count point to thousands of runaway and homeless youth in New York City, most of whom have no access to crisis, transitional or permanent housing. Further, in a survey of homeless youth conducted in January 2013, the findings showed that NYC youth aren’t temporarily homeless but staying homeless for a disturbing average duration of 927 days. The findings also showed, as with most other recent research, that the majority of homeless youth had been in foster care and/or the criminal justice system and nearly half lacked a high school degree.

RIP Robert Hess, Former Department of Homeless Services Commissioner

Jan.09.2014

The Network is deeply saddened to report the passing of Robert Hess, former Commissioner of the NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS). Mr. Hess passed away on Christmas Eve after being diagnosed with liver cancer in 2013. He was 57 years old.

As DHS Commissioner from 2006 to 2010, Mr. Hess oversaw a period of great change and experimentation, despite a major recession and multiple fiscal challenges. During his time at DHS, the agency reduced the number of long-term shelter stayers and people living on the streets by nearly half. Mr. Hess also worked hard to improve and expand homeless families’ and individuals’ access to rent subsidies and permanent housing.

“Rob Hess was among the best of DHS commissioners,” says Tony Hannigan, Network Board Member and Executive Director of the Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS). “In addition to completely reorienting street outreach services to prioritize chronically homeless people, he also implemented a design for accountability, including performance-based contracting, that ensured the job got done. Commissioner Hess truly cared about homeless people.”

“Rob Hess transformed DHS and homeless services in New York City by demonstrating that even the most intractable problems are in fact solvable,” says George Nashak, Executive Vice President at HELP USA. “The best example of this was his leadership on street homeless services.  Rob invented safe havens and reengineered the street outreach contracts so that we were moving street homeless clients indoors at a pace that had never been seen before. I will miss him enormously.”

A U.S. Army veteran and Baltimore native, Mr. Hess came to fight homelessness in New York after witnessing the scourge of veteran homelessness. For 16 years, Mr. Hess ran a chain of thrift stores for the Baltimore chapter of Disabled American Veterans. Encountering firsthand the appalling number of homeless veterans in America, Mr. Hess committed the rest of his career to ending homelessness.

New Report: NY/NY III Supportive Housing Saved City $10,100 Per Tenant Per Year

Jan.02.2014

On New Year’s Eve, New York City released the first major report on the cost-savings impacts of supportive housing created under the New York/New York III Supportive Housing Agreement. Reviewing data from the first years of the agreement, the report found that homeless or institutionalized people placed into NY/NY III supportive housing saved taxpayers a net average of $10,100 per person per year. The entire report is available here.
 
The report’s analysis confirms similar findings by more than 30 studies nationwide that showed how supportive housing can significantly reduce the costly public expenses associated with homelessness. You can read the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH)'s press release for the repot here.

The New York/New York III Supportive Housing Evaluation was conducted by DOHMH in collaboration with the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH). The evaluation is particularly significant because it compared those found eligible for and placed into NY/NY III housing with a control group made up of those who were also found eligible but did not receive a supportive housing placement. The study looked at two years of costs prior to placement/non-placement and one year post for everyone who was placed or not placed into NY/NY housing between 2007 and 2009.

The study measured public costs associated with participants’ use of shelter, jail, cash assistance, food stamps, state psychiatric care and Medicaid. The report found that, after subtracting the NY/NY III housing and service costs, each NY/NY III tenant housed saves the public an average of $10,100 a year.
 
The savings occurred across many public systems and varied widely by tenant population, with supportive housing for tenants coming from State-operated psychiatric facilities saving on average an impressive $77,425 per tenant per year. The NY/NY III housing achieved either a complete cost offset or significant savings for all but two of the tenant populations.