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02.21.2018
Families, funders, city officials and friends gathered February 8th to celebrate the opening of Win’s West 118th Street residence, providing supportive housing to 34 formerly homeless single mothers and their children. The new residence is Win’s first single-site supportive housing in 20 years, adding to their portfolio of transitional and permanent supportive housing options serving over 4,000 people – the majority of them children. Win – formerly Women In Need – is the largest provider of shelter and supportive housing to homeless families and their children in New York City.
Win CEO Christine Quinn welcomed the crowd celebrating the building’s opening: “Women and children continue to be the forgotten face of New York City’s homelessness crisis.” She noted that the new building was not just providing homes to the 34 families who had recently moved in, but was helping end generational homelessness pointing to studies that indicate that a homeless child is twice as likely to be a homeless adult. She also noted that by lifting up at-risk families, the new residence would be saving lives, citing a grim statistic that homeless teenagers are three times as likely as non-homeless teenagers to attempt or commit suicide.
HPD Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer congratulated the partners on the new building saying, "There are just far too many families who have to worry where they're going to sleep at night. We have to do more. We have to do better. We have to provide access, not just for a home, but a fresh start. It is not just a professional obligation but, for all of us here, it is a moral obligation."
Assemblywoman Inez Dickens echoed those sentiments noting, "When you've lived on the streets for so long, you need help."
New tenant Aidibel Moreno's told reporters afterward that her new apartment is her sanctuary after years of being on her own in shelters and on the street.
"I was broken, now I'm so strong. Living in an apartment like this, it gives you identity because you feel like a person. You are living like a human being in a beautiful setting."
On-site services, including financial literacy, job training, work readiness, education counseling, and access to counseling are funded by the State Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services.
Capital funding for the project was provided by HPD’s Supportive Housing Loan Program and from low income housing tax credit equity through the Richman Group. OCV Architects designed West 118th Street and the J. Pilla Group was the contractor.