Newsfeed Category: New York State

Network Advocacy Day Set for March 18

Mar.06.2014

The Network will hold one last, big advocacy push in Albany on March 18 to impact vital supportive housing programs in the New York State budget.

Last month, our members joined Homeless Services United to hold nearly 60 meetings with members of the New York State Assembly, Senate and their staff. We used these meetings to advocate for increased funding for homeless prevention and supportive housing programs in the 2014-15 state fiscal year budget.

Our final advocacy effort on Tuesday, March 18 will offer us a chance to advocate for these issues one last time before the state budget passes on or before April 1. We encourage all of you to attend. To RSVP, please contact the Network’s Maclain Berhaupt at mberhaupt@shnny.org.

This year, we’ve focused our advocacy efforts on four specifics areas. First, we hope to achieve an increase to the NYS Office of Temporary Disability and Assistance (OTDA)’s Homeless Housing and Prevention services budget, which funds both the NYS Supportive Housing Program (NYSSHP) and Solutions to End Homelessness Programs (STEHP). Second, we hope to save vulnerable State homeless programs threatened by sequestration. To do this, we’ve called on New York State to establish an emergency supplemental pool of funding at OTDA to help mitigate cuts to over 50 programs across the state.

Son House Apartments Opens in Rochester

Mar.05.2014

Partners and tenants gather for the ceremonial ribbon cutting at Son House Apartments in Rochester on February 24.

The first supportive housing residence for high-cost Medicaid recipients to open in New York State had its grand opening February 24 in Rochester. Called Son House Apartments in honor of the legendary blues musician Son House, who both made Rochester his home for many years and experienced homelessness, the residence will provide housing and supports to 21 individuals coping with both homelessness and medical or behavioral disabilities.

Son House Apartments was developed by Network member Providence Housing Development Corporation with the Office of Temporary & Disability (OTDA) Homeless Housing and Assistance Program Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) Capital Funds Program. To date, HHAP has awarded MRT funding to six projects across New York.

The opening featured a number of luminaries, including NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) Commissioner Darryl C. Towns, NYS Senator Joe Robach, NYS Homeless Housing and Assistance Corporation (HHAC) Vice President Brett Hebner and Rochester Mayor Lovely A. Warren.

“The true measure of city’s greatness must include a reckoning of how its citizens treat their most vulnerable neighbors,” Mayor Warren said. “As a place of both shelter and support for our homeless residents, the Son House Apartments project is helping Rochester rise to yet another level of greatness.”

Network Releases Report on NY/NY III Agreement

Feb.27.2014

The Network has released a new report on the New York/New York III Supportive Housing Agreement, the landmark 2005 commitment to create 9,000 new units of supportive housing in 10 years.

The report, available here, synthesizes findings from interviews with more than 140 members of the supportive housing community. Taking Stock of the New York/New York III Supportive Housing Agreement: A Community View of the Achievements and Challenges of Implementing the Nation's Largest Supportive Housing Initiative offers an in-depth look at the initiative and explores key areas for growth and improvement for the next great partnership between New York City and State to end homelessness.

"Taking Stock confirms what many of us have known for years: That the New York/New York III Agreement has been a phenomenal engine to house formerly homeless New Yorkers," says Network Executive Director Ted Houghton. "We hope this report will serve as an aid to the supportive housing community, our government partners and other stakeholders as we seek to build upon NY/NY III with a successor agreement. After more than 30 interviews and seven focus groups, we're confident in calling NY/NY III a resounding public policy success."

The Network interviewed an array of stakeholders for this project, including representatives from all 10 of the government signatories of the agreement, supportive housing and shelter providers, NY/NY III tenants, advocates and private sector partners. The goal of the project was to provide a platform for this diverse group of stakeholders to offer feedback on the successes and challenges of the initiative and to elicit their guidance on how best to design future supportive housing agreements.

HIV/AIDS Rent Cap Proposed in City, State Budgets

Feb.24.2014

Advocates from the HIV/AIDS and supportive housing communities are celebrating a long-awaited policy victory in New York City.

Last week, Gov Andrew Cuomo released his 30-day amendments for the 2014-2015 fiscal year budget. The amendments include new language to fix a rental assistance program for people living with HIV/AIDS in New York City. The governor proposes to place a cap on the amount of money these individuals must pay in rent. Under the amendment, tenants with HIV/AIDS can be charged no more than 30% of their annual income in rent.

This rent cap – advocated for years by our friends at VOCAL, Housing Works and other allies – represents a major victory for low-income and formerly homeless individuals living with HIV/AIDS in NYC. NYC is home to 12,000 individuals with HIV/AIDS, many of whom pay up to 70 percent of their disability income toward rent.

The 30-day amendment comes on the heels of NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s budget proposal earlier this month, which also included a 30% rent cap for HIV/AIDS tenants. New York City will pay for roughly $17 million, or 70 percent of the costs associated with this partnership; New York State will pay for the remaining 30 percent, or $9 million.

This policy fix will help prevent thousands of low-income New Yorkers from becoming homeless. We congratulate Housing Works, VOCAL and all our partners who’ve been on the front lines of this issue for years, and we applaud Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo for their action!

For a press release on all the governor’s 30-day amendments, see here.

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.

Gov. Cuomo Announces Major Supportive Housing Increases in Executive Budget

Jan.22.2014

Governor Andrew Cuomo released his fourth executive budget yesterday, and it is an extremely positive one for supportive housing!

The SFY 2014-15 Executive Budget Proposal provides major infusions of new capital for supportive housing development, large allocations of new supportive housing subsidies for high-cost Medicaid recipients and modest but significant increases to key supportive housing programs like the NYS Supportive Housing Program (NYSSHP), Solutions to End Homelessness Program (STEHP) and NYS Office of Mental Health Supported Housing.

The Network would like to thank Governor Cuomo and his staff, the Division of Budget and all of our State agency leaders who worked tirelessly to put this budget together. We deeply appreciate your continuing commitment to supportive housing. We are confident the Legislature will also share the governor’s commitment to provide safe and secure housing for some of our most vulnerable citizens. The Network and its members will do our best to help secure passage of the budget in the next few months.

"This is a budget that shows a serious commitment to housing and supporting some of New York’s most vulnerable citizens,” says Network Executive Director Ted Houghton. “We are particularly pleased with the massive $260 million, two-year allocation for the DOH Medicaid Redesign Team Supportive Housing Program. This investment of State dollars will provide a stabilizing foundation of affordable housing and supports that will be particularly effective when the federal government approves the State’s waiver application to transform its Medicaid program.”

Budget highlights of particular interest to supportive housing providers include:

Department of Health/Medicaid Redesign Team

MRT Supportive Housing Fund: $260 million (over two years)
The executive budget funds the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) Supportive Housing Fund at $260 million over two years. The budget allocates $100 million for SFY 2014-15 and $160 million for SFY 2015-16. This marks a $14 million increase from last year’s funding level. This fund will continue to provide service funding, rent subsidies and capital dollars to create supportive housing for high-cost Medicaid recipients. The MRT Affordable Housing Workgroup will work with State agencies to determine the most effective and efficient way to spend these funds on housing-based interventions to improve care and reduce Medicaid spending. Specific program recommendations for the allocation plan will be drafted and finalized in the next few months.

Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance

Homeless Housing Prevention Services Program: $30.3 million
The executive budget KEPT WHOLE the Homeless Housing Prevention Services Program that funds NYSSHP, STEHP and the Operational Support for AIDS Housing Program. This funding will keep all existing supportive housing and homelessness prevention programs whole at the baseline of last year’s final adopted budget level. We would like to thank the governor’s office and the NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) for their support for this critical services and operating program. We will ask the Legislature to increase this funding further to fund new supportive housing programs opening up this year.

Homeless Housing Assistance Program: $63 million
The executive budget proposes to DOUBLE the Homeless Housing and Assistance Program (HHAP) capital development program for supportive housing from last year’s level of $33 million. This is the first time HHAP has ever been doubled; the program has remained constant at approximately $30 million over the past ten years.

Gov. Cuomo Delivers State of the State Address

Jan.10.2014

Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered his fourth State of the State address in Albany earlier this week. While the governor focused much of the address on tax relief and other economic issues, there was some news of interest to the supportive housing community.

Governor Cuomo’s speech affirmed the continuation of the House NY plan with a $100 million commitment for affordable housing. This funding will create and preserve 3,500 units of affordable housing across the state. For renters earning less that $100,000, the governor also proposed a renters’ tax credit. This policy could help prevent homelessness if it takes into account high-rent burdens, particularly for extremely low-income families. The governor also renewed his commitment to streamline the grant reimbursement process for nonprofits through the Grants Gateway program.

In light of New York’s declining prison population, the governor proposed the creation of a re-entry council to help avoid recidivism through job training and other social support services. The governor would direct $15 million to this effort. The Network will advocate for the inclusion of a supportive housing strategy as part of this initiative.

HCR Announces Early Unified Funding Round Winners

Jan.08.2014

NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) has announced the winners of its early Unified Funding Round awards. HCR funded ten projects with a total of $9.8 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). This amount represents more than one-third of the $26 million available this year. The agency also allocated more than $12 million in funding through the Housing Trust Fund. This amount equals roughly 40% of the total amount available. The Network expects that at least $3.4 million in LIHTC awards remain to be allocated under the supportive housing set-aside during the regular round, with awards expected to be announced in the spring.

You can read the full list of awardees here.

This early round prioritized shovel-ready projects, which included supportive housing for veterans with special needs or affordable housing that reserved up to 20 percent of its units for persons with developmental disabilities. The latter projects were supported by the NYS Office for People with Development Disabilities (OPWDD).

HCR funded one supportive housing project through its priority to house veterans. Concern for Independent Living received $1.275 million in LIHTCs for its Ronkonkoma project, which will include 30 units of veteran supportive housing in a 59-unit, mixed-use project. Several Network members were also involved in other early-round projects as either developers and/or service providers: Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany, Dunn Development Corporation, Housing Visions, Independent Home Care and Providence Housing Development Corporation.

We would like to congratulate all of our members who were successful in this year’s early round process.

Gov. Cuomo Includes Supportive Housing in End-of-Year Report

Jan.06.2014

Governor Andrew Cuomo released his 2013 year-end report last month. The 54-page document offers an overview of the various initiatives supported by his administration, including supportive housing. As the Network awaits the Governor’s 2014 State of the State address this Wednesday, we are encouraged by these words and the Governor’s continued endorsement of the supportive housing model as part of his efforts to reform Medicaid. You can read New York Rising in full here.

“There is a growing national recognition that addressing the social determinants of health is critical for both improving health status and reducing costs," the report states. "This is most evident in the matter of housing. Governor Cuomo announced the allocation of $86 million to support nearly 5,500 individuals through the Medicaid Redesign Team Supportive Housing Program. The funds are managed by multiple State agencies working cooperatively, and support both capital projects and rental and service subsidies. To date, funds have been committed to construct 12 new buildings, which will create 483 new supportive housing units. Funding has also provided over 4,300 individuals with rental subsidies and service supports. Although the link between stable housing and Medicaid cost control is well known, this is the first time that projected Medicaid savings have been directed to the development of supportive housing.”

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.