Newsfeed Category: New York City

Grand Opening Held for Vyse Ave.

Oct.03.2013

Forty staff, partners and tenants gathered on October 2 for the official grand opening of Vyse Avenue Apartments, the latest Community Access supportive housing residence in the Crotona Park section of the Bronx. The building provides homes to 64 individuals with psychiatric disabilities and a history of homelessness. 

The festivities were casual and family-like, with Community Access CEO Steve Coe welcoming the organization’s Board Member Ramesh Shah to the podium. Mr. Shah thanked all the partners who made the residence possible, including the community that welcomed the building – and its tenants – into the neighborhood. Mr. Coe followed up these remarks by noting that Vyse Avenue had been the easiest of the organization’s dozen permanent supportive housing buildings to site. 

“We were told to meet with Bronx Desperadoes and it turned out the Executive Director’s mother had been involved with the mental health system, so he couldn’t have been more welcoming,” Mr. Coe said.

Steve then showed a short film that the National Equity Fund (NEF) and TD Bank had made about Vyse Avenue. The video, which you can watch below, features building tenant Katherine Brown. 

Sequestration Strikes HSI: An Interview with Jim Dill

Sep.26.2013

Over the past few months, the Network has fought to highlight the often-ignored effects of budget sequestration on low-income individuals and housing programs. In the below interview, we speak with Jim Dill, Executive Director of Housing & Services, Inc. (HSI), a supportive housing provider in New York City. Jim tells us about sequestration and its continued effects on HSI’s supportive housing residences and the vulnerable tenants they house. He speaks in particular about two residences: The Kenmore and The Cecil. To learn more about sequestration’s impact on the poor and formerly homeless, see our Sequestration Stories page.

The Network: Kenmore Hall provides housing and services to 325 of New York’s most vulnerable citizens. How has sequestration impacted the well-being of the residence and its tenants? 

Jim Dill: The Kenmore currently has seven vacant apartments attributable to sequestration. The sequester has led to a freeze on new tenant-based Section 8 vouchers. We are scrambling now to see if we can fill these empty units with another referral source. This is proving quite difficult, because tenants at Kenmore must meet HUD’s criteria for homelessness and have a rent subsidy. In the meantime, seven perfectly good apartments at the Kenmore remain vacant. Housing and services at this residence costs roughly $14,000 per year. That’s cheaper than any of the alternatives for New York’s most vulnerable: shelters, jails, hospitals, rehab, etc. It costs about $28,000 a year, for example, to house a single adult in a DHS shelter. That’s a $14,000 difference per person. With these seven vacancies, we could save the city at least $98,000 a year. Instead, because of sequestration, the apartments are just sitting there.

Has sequestration jeopardized the building’s day-to-day operations?

Yes. In accordance with our regulatory agreements, our tenants must have very low incomes and their rent is restricted to 30% of whatever they make. In the past, any rent increases would be funded through Section 8. Sequestration has frozen such rent increases.

Meet Robert, Sequestration Victim

Sep.10.2013

Robert Carrion was ready to move on. A military veteran living in the Bronx, Robert had plans to relocate to Orlando with his girlfriend. He secured a Section 8 voucher and visited Florida to find an affordable apartment. He found an ideal spot and began preparations for his big move.

It was then he got the call. Robert’s Section 8 voucher had been frozen. He held the phone, dumbfounded.

“I just thought, ‘What happened?’” Robert says. “That’s when I found out about sequestration.”

All across the country, sequestration has quietly affected the lives of low-income individuals like Robert. A result of the 2011 Budget Control Act, sequestration has forced the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to freeze the issuance of Section 8 vouchers. 

For Robert, sequestration has cost him an apartment, his new life in Florida and, sadly, even his relationship. Taxpayers, meanwhile, will lose out as well. Robert must now remain at Fordham Village, a supportive housing residence for veterans run by the nonprofit Jericho Project. The final blow: Another homeless veteran, one who could have moved into Robert’s apartment at Fordham Village and stabilized his life enough to move on, will remain homeless as a result of sequestration.

Wambua Announces Departure from HPD

Aug.23.2013

(left) NYC Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Mathew Wambua accepts his award as Government Partner of the Year at the Network’s 2012 Awards Gala. (right) Incoming HPD Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas. Ms Visnauskas currently serves as the agency's Deputy Commissioner for Development.

After two and a half years at the helm, Mathew Wambua has announced the end of his tenure as Commissioner of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).

Beginning next month, the commissioner will leave HPD to join the ranks of Richman Housing as President of RHR Funding LLC.

Commissioner Wambua's time has been an exciting one at HPD. At the Network's 2012 New York State Supportive Housing Conference, the commissioner announced an ambitious new plan from HPD to double its annual production of supportive housing, from 500 to 1,000 units every year. Despite enormous cuts in federal aid, HPD has kept this record-level commitment and is on target to meet its goals. For this and many other reasons, Commissioner Wambua was awarded the Government Partner of the Year award at our 2012 Awards Gala.

"It has been an honor to work with some of the most dedicated and compassionate public servants in the business," Commissioner Wambua said. "The knowledge that the work we do represents an investment in the future of New Yorkers and their families is why we are so passionate about our mission at HPD."

Guest Blog: NYC Debate Includes No Questions on Housing, Homelessness

Aug.22.2013

By Rachel Fee, Coordinator of the Housing First! coalition

New York’s Democratic mayoral candidates clashed over an array of issues this week at the first of several televised debates. The debate, though substantive in many ways, didn’t include a single question on affordable housing or homelessness. 

This came as a surprise to us at the Housing First! coalition. In pre-debate talk shows such as WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show and The Call on NY1, callers expressed repeated concerns about the state of affordable housing in New York City. There’s a growing frustration among families who are being priced out of their hometown and spending far more than they can afford on housing. Right now, 33% of New Yorkers spend more than half of their income on rent. For low-income families, that figure is 66%. That kind of rent burden forces families to make difficult choices between rent, food and medicine each month. And too many families are not able to keep up, as evidenced by the 50,000 New Yorkers who sleep in homeless shelters every night. 

In the midst of this housing crisis, the lack of questions on affordable housing was a disappointment. It was encouraging, however, that several candidates discussed affordable housing without any sort of prompt.

New Report Released on Youth Count

Aug.06.2013

The Urban Institute has released its findings on Youth Count, an effort held earlier this year to count the number of homeless youth in nine cities across the country. The federal government selected New York as one of the nine pilot cities to participate in the count, which was designed as a demonstration project to better understand how best to count homeless youth.

The Institute's report and findings will help shape future youth counts in the city. This invaluable evaluation will help advocates learn from cities across the country about their experiences with this year's youth count. You can read the report here. The Urban Institute also released a video on this year's effort, which features homeless youth from around the country as they discuss the importance of the count effort. See the video below:

Housing First! Releases ‘Building Stronger’

Jul.09.2013

The Housing First! coalition has released a new $8 billion plan to preserve and expand affordable housing in New York City over the next eight years. The plan, which you can read here, calls on New York's next mayor to build 60,000 new affordable housing units -- including 10,000 supportive housing and 6,000 senior housing units -- and preserve 90,000 at-risk affordable housing units.

First formed in 2001, Housing First! is coalition of 40 diverse coordinating committee members seeking policy innovation and capital investment to address New York City's affordable housing crisis. The new plan, titled Building Stronger, has more than 100 organizational endorsements to date. Along with calling for increased affordable housing production and preservation, Building Stronger outlines proposals to strengthen the NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA), support affordable home ownership and address the housing needs of low-income families.

NYC Passes 2013-2014 Budget

Jun.24.2013

Great news: The NYC Council has approved a budget that restores $5.1 million in proposed cuts to HIV/AIDS supportive housing contracts!

The cuts, proposed in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2013-2014 fiscal year budget for the fifth year running, would have impacted tenants in 4,500 supportive housing units funded by the NYC Human Resources Administration HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HRA HASA). Because the program receives a 29% match from New York State, the total budget cut to HASA supportive housing contracts would have been $7.2 million. The cuts would have also resulted in more than 200 social workers being laid off. Thanks to this restoration, thousands of vulnerable tenants will get to keep their case workers.

The final budget used the Council's legislative initiative funding to restore both HASA supportive housing contracted case management cuts ($2.718 million) and HASA supportive housing contract cuts ($2.368 million). These restorations were made possible thanks to the leadership and unwavering support of Council Speaker Christine Quinn and General Welfare Chair Annabel Palma. The Network also wishes to thank the many Council members who fought hard to restore this funding, especially the members of the General Welfare Committee.

NYC Homelessness Coalition Holds Launch Rally

Apr.11.2013

Network staff joined more than 250 friends and advocates on April 9 at the launch of United to End Homelessness, a coalition created to highlight homelessness during the 2013 mayoral election in New York City. The rally took place on the steps of City Hall and featured a slate of guest speakers, including Rev. Calvin O. Butts of the Abyssinian Baptist Church.

The event marked the start of a long campaign, one designed to both shed light on NYC's homelessness crisis and offer policy solutions to the mayoral candidates.

Christy Parque of Homeless Services United (HSU) served as the day's emcee. Faced with an unseasonably hot afternoon, Ms. Parque kept her cool as she introduced the coalition as a broad array of experts, advocates and faith leaders.

"We must have a diversity of solutions to match the diversity of reasons why our friends become homeless in New York City," she said. 

The ever-eloquent Rev. Butts then took the stage to offer an impassioned plea to New York's next mayor.