Categories: New York State, Network Events
10.15.2013
Upstate Residence of the Year at the Network's 2013 Awards Gala
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Hill Street Inn is a standout on any number of levels: It suffered (and survived) one of the worst not-in-my-backyard battles in our community’s history; it provides homes to 20 individuals, most of whom never imagined they’d be living indoors much less have a beautiful home of their own; and it provides a gorgeous new resource for the Troy community.
Hill Street Inn is emblematic of what supportive housing is all about: It has fostered a community within the residence and bolstered the community surrounding it.
For Joseph’s House and Shelter, the road has been a long one. The organization overcame neighborhood opposition and two lawsuits to build Hill Street Inn over the course of seven years. Now, with the building’s unqualified success as a safe, inviting addition to Troy, the initial pushback seems like a dim memory.
“We’re proud of this program for a lot of reasons,” says Kevin O’Connor, Executive Director of Joseph’s House. “The housing-first model works. Plus the building is beautiful and is really becoming a center for the community.”
Hill Street’s tenants have access to a variety of services. Case managers work on site to help tenants connect with medical doctors, psychiatrists, clinicians and drug treatment programs. Tenants also receive life skills coaching, entitlement advocacy and other services. This blend of housing and services has helped these once-marginalized Troy residents find stability after years of life on the streets and in shelters.
One tenant, Michele, even reached out to an Albany Times Union reporter, asking him to write about Hill Street Inn (which he did). The message she left was, “People should know how beautiful this place is. And how good they are. And how they helped me.”
The residence also hosts any number of meetings and classes in its common areas: Russell Sage College has held classes there, Rensselaer County holds its Teen Peer Court there and the Mental Health Empowerment Project meets there as does the United Way. Perhaps most surprising, though, is that the Troy Little Italy Merchant Association also holds its meetings and parties at Hill Street Inn; like several other businesses, the association initially opposed the project.
“I’m now a complete believer in Joseph’s House and their mission,” says Rocco DeFazio, the former Chair of the Troy Little Italy Merchant Association. “You really can’t find better, more compassionate people to help the homeless.”
For weathering a seven-year storm of opposition to create a nurturing community for Troy’s neediest, one that’s also living proof that supportive housing is a great neighbor, Hill Street Inn is the winner of our 2013 Upstate Residence of the Year award.