Every year, the Network honors two outstanding supportive housing residences at its Awards Gala. In 2012, we selected West End Residences' True Colors Residence and Joseph's House and Shelter's Hill Street Inn. Learn more about these remarkable residences below!
True Colors Residence
Colleen Jackson of West End Residences
True Colors Residence is quite literally one of a kind: The first – and only – supportive housing residence for homeless and runaway lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) young people AND the first New York supportive housing project associated with a genuine star.
This trailblazing residence is the result of the fortuitous pairing of West End Residences and musical icon (and recent Tony-winner) Cyndi Lauper. Long an LGBT advocate, Ms Lauper helped raise funds for True Colors, which is named after her 1986 song and album.
“The True Colors Residence provides these young people with a real home and the leg up and encouragement that will help them make it in the world,” says Ms Lauper.
To the 30 young adults who live here, the residence is an oasis from life on the street, which can be especially treacherous for LGBT youth – who make up an estimated 40% of all homeless youth in NYC.
“When my family rejected me for being transgender, I remember asking myself, ‘Where am I going to sleep? What am I going to eat?’” says True Colors Residence tenant Trina Carter. “Now, here I am at True Colors Residence, a place to better my life. What else can I ask for?”
True Colors Residence offers its tenants access to a host of social services especially aimed at supporting LGBT youth. Tenants can consult a life-skills coach, case manager or social worker to help with everything from budgeting for groceries to taking the right medication. Job readiness training, self-esteem exercises and identity affirmation activities are among those offered daily by the building’s staff.
Located in Harlem, True Colors Residence is a gorgeous, green new construction that’s emblematic of the best of modern supportive housing. Among its special features is a two-story outdoor space graced by a back-lit sculpture/fountain emblazoned with the “True Colors” lyrics.
But the real beauty of True Colors lies in the warmth and pride of the staff and tenants, which is palpable everywhere you look.
“I am humbled and inspired by the resilient efforts of our residents to overcome the trauma they have endured and am proud of the wonderful True Colors staff for assisting and guiding them along the way,” says Colleen Jackson, Executive Director of West End Residences.
In light of the shocking dearth of both temporary and permanent housing options for the City’s homeless youth, the hope is that True Colors will spur the development of more such residences. Indeed, West End is already at work on True Colors Bronx.
For its groundbreaking work to provide a safe home environment for New York’s LGBT homeless youth, True Colors Residence is the recipient of our 2013 NYC Residence of the Year award.
Hill Street Inn
Kevin O'Connor of Joseph's House and Shelter
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.