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2015 Workshops

The 15th Annual New York State Supportive Housing Conference was the largest, most attended event in the Network's history. The bulk of the day consisted of the following 23 workshops. Scroll down to learn more about each workshop. Click the names of individual presenters to view their PowerPoint presentation slides. We'll be adding video, audio and more from these workshops in the weeks ahead, so check back soon!

 

WORKSHOP SERIES A

Building a Better New York for All

As New York faces another year of record homelessness and a shrinking stock of affordable housing, multiple agencies are working together to create more affordable housing at a record pace. This panel will explore how federal, state and city strategies both intersect and support each other to increase production of housing for New York’s most vulnerable.

Vicki Been, Commissioner, NYC Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development
Richard Froehlich, COO and General Counsel, NYC Housing Development Corporation
Holly Leicht, Regional Administrator for New Jersey and New York, US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development
Cathy Pennington, Executive Vice-President, Leased Housing Dept., NYC Housing Authority
Jamie Rubin, Commissioner, NYS Homes and Community Renewal

Moderator: William Traylor, President, Richman Housing Resources LLC

Ending Veteran Homelessness
President Obama pledged to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015, and, thanks to an infusion of federal funds and the hard work and ingenuity of local stakeholders and providers, nationally the number of homeless veterans is down by a third in just four years. New Orleans has effectively ended vet homelessness and New York City is well on the way. This panel will discuss what reaching “zero homelessness” really means, strategies on how to achieve it, and what will be needed for our communities to maintain it.

Dr. Loree Sutton, Brigadier General, U.S. Army (Ret.), Commissioner, NYC Mayor’s Office of Veterans’ Affairs
Martha J. Kegel, Executive Director, UNITY of Greater New Orleans
Richard Cho, Senior Policy Director, US Interagency Council on Homelessness
Craig Hinds, OEF/OIF Veteran, Tenant, Jericho Project’s Kingsbridge Terrace Veterans Residence

Moderator: Tori Lyon, Executive Director, Jericho Project

Housing & Healthcare Reform: Trying to Connect All the Moving Parts

Multiple seismic system changes related to mega healthcare reform are rolling out across the state – integrated behavioral and health, DSRIP, HARP, Health Homes, etc. How do all of these massive initiatives come together and how do they relate to supportive housing? How do we maintain the supportive housing model during this critical time and find ways to expand it to serve all of the state’s goals?

Courtney Burke, Deputy Secretary for Health, NYS Office of the Governor
Robert Kent, General Counsel, NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services
Dr. Ann Marie T. Sullivan, Commissioner, NYS Office of Mental Health

Moderator: Donna Colonna, President & CEO, Services for the UnderServed, Inc.

Overcoming Barriers to Re-Entry Housing
In New York and around the country, stakeholders are finding innovative ways to serve re-entry populations in housing, despite systemic barriers. Learn from a panel of experts about these innovative efforts, including the Governor’s Council on Community Reentry & Reintegration and the Mayor’s Task Force on Behavioral Health & Criminal Justice and their respective plans to create new supportive housing for this population. Panelists will also discuss national models such as FUSE and partnerships with public housing authorities.

Trish Marsik, Executive Director, Mayor’s Task Force on Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice, NYC Office of the Mayor
Kristin Miller, New York Director, CSH
Marta Nelson, Executive Director, NYS Council on Community Reentry and Reintegration, NYS Office of the Governor
JoAnne Page, President & COO, Fortune Society

Moderator: Rita Zimmer, Executive Director, Housing Plus Solutions

Making An Arranged Marriage Work: MCOs, Health Homes, Housing Providers

This workshop explores relationships being built among Managed Care Organizations, Health Homes and supportive housing providers as they try to collectively better serve homeless medically-challenged New Yorkers. Dr. Elizabeth Oudens of Amerigroup, Deirdre Sekulic of Montefiore and Keona Serrano of BronxWorks discuss their successes and challenges in working together as they try to identify systemic issues that, once addressed, will allow all to collaborate more effectively.

Powerpoint Collaboration between Dr. Elizabeth Oudens, Deirdre Sekulic, Keona Serrano, and Henie Lustgarten.

Dr. Elizabeth Oudens, Behavioral Health Medical Director, HealthPlus Amerigroup
Deirdre Sekulic, Assistant Director of Social Work, Montefiore Medical Center
Keona Serrano, Clinical Coordinator Stable Homes to Health Program, BronxWorks

Moderator: Henie Lustgarten, Vice President, Bronx Health & Housing Consortium

Reviving Main Streets with Supportive Housing


Two very innovative projects that are laying the groundwork for building or rebuilding communities are highlighted in this workshop. One provider worked with the community to meet its need for a facility crucial to the town’s future growth, the other is using creative financing to remediate brownfields that will let other businesses develop there.

Chris Betts, President, Betts Housing Partners LLC
Gillian Conde, Vice President, DePaul
Ralph Fasano, Executive Director, Concern for Independent Living
Lenny Skrill, Assistant Commissioner, NYS Homes and Community Renewal

Moderator: Michael Skrebutenas, Senior Vice President, Community Preservation Corporation

Aging in Place in Supportive Housing
As more and more tenants age in place and more seniors experience homelessness, supportive housing providers must deal with the unique service needs of older adults. Panelists will address how on-site services can be adapted to improve quality of life and lower health care costs, how senior supportive housing differs from other models and the latest on the State’s efforts to meet the need of homeless seniors in New York.

Sherry Cranmer, Director of Clinical and Social Services, West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing
Patrick Germain, Chief Strategy Officer, Project Renewal
Ashley Arner, Assistant Director Capitol Hall/Senior Supportive Housing Pilot Program, Goddard Riverside Community Center
Mark Kissinger, Director of the Division of Long Term Care, NYS Dept. of Health

Moderator: Elizabeth Strojan, Program Director of Public Policy and External Affairs, Enterprise Community Partners

CTI for People Leaving Institutional Care


For the past year, Coordinated Behavioral Care has been road-testing a new Critical Time Intervention to help people transitioning from psychiatric centers and other highly supervised settings to supportive and other types of community housing. Hear about how it has been working from the clinicians’ and the housing providers’ perspectives.

Powerpoint Collaboration between Mark Graham, Todd Barnes, Michael Greene, and Joey Drucker

Mark Graham, Project Director, Coordinated Behavioral Care
Todd Barnes, Registered Nurse, Institute for Community Living
Michael Greene, Program Peer, Institute for Community Living
Joey Drucker, Social Worker, Center for Urban Community Services

Moderator: Mark Jennings, Director of Housing, Community Access

WORKSHOP SERIES B:

Tackling the Homelessness Crisis: City & State


In the face of record homelessness, especially in New York City, policymakers are working on a number of strategies to stem the tide. The panelists will discuss the City and State’s various approaches ranging from the City’s numerous new rental assistance programs to the State’s housing-based efforts.

Steven Banks, Commissioner, NYC Human Resources Administration
Sharon Devine, Executive Deputy Commissioner, NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance
Kisha Santiago-Martinez, Assistant Secretary of Housing, NYS Office of the Governor
Lorraine Stephens, First Deputy Commissioner, NYC Dept. of Homeless Services

Moderator: Tony Hannigan, Executive Director, Center for Urban Community Services

StoryCorps Visits Supportive Housing

StoryCorps, the nationally recognized nonprofit that hones real-life stories for both a weekly program airing on NPR and for a collection at the Library of Congress, will present their first-ever conference workshop tailored for the use of tenants in supportive housing. StoryCorps staff will offer an overview of their program; highlight the uses of storytelling in building community, strengthening bonds between tenants and staff, and developing self-esteem; interview a supportive housing tenant using their new app; and screen short animations of their most popular broadcasts related to homelessness.

Kate Duff, Director, TED Prize Project, StoryCorps
Derek Kelly, Tenant, Fortune Society
Stanley Richards, Senior Vice President, Fortune Society
Dina Zempsky, Program Director, StoryCorps

Introduction by Laura Mascuch, Executive Director, Supportive Housing Network of New York

Innovative Financing Models

As NYC and NYS work to increase the production of supportive and affordable housing, City and State agencies are creating new and exciting financing tools to achieve these goals. State pilots using income averaging, MRT capital and HDC bonds are helping both nonprofit and for profit developers build housing for New York’s most vulnerable.

Arlo Monell Chase, Vice President of Real Estate and Property Development, Services for the UnderServed, Inc.
Martin Dunn, President, Dunn Development Corp.
Robert SanbornPrincipal, Robert Sanborn Development
Marian ZuckerPresident, Finance and Development, NYS Homes and Community Renewal

Moderator: Oliver G. ChaseHirschen Singer & Epstein LLP

Good News, Bad News: Federal Housing Policy
A panel of federal policy experts will discuss the overall state of play in Washington and its impact on state and local governments. The discussion will include: new funding (finally) from the National Housing Trust Fund, the President’s proposal for restoring vouchers and targeting them to those most in need, and the potential for another round of sequester cuts.

Rachel Fee, Executive Director, New York Housing Conference
Jonathan Harwitz, Managing Director, Federal Policy and Government Affairs, Low Income Investment Fund
Doug Rice, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities

Moderator: Ted Houghton, Executive Deputy Commissioner, NYS Homes and Community Renewal

Health Homes & Supportive Housing in 2015...and Beyond


Three years in, much more is known about how Health Homes and supportive housing can best work together and who else needs to be involved. Panelists will discuss where we’ve been, where we are now and where we are going with DSRIP.

Powerpoint Collaboration between Venus Alfaro and Carolyn Baginski.

Venus Alfaro, Care Navigator, CUCS Intensive Wellness Program
Carolyn Baginski, Program Director, CUCS Intensive Wellness Program
Kevin Muir, Vice President of Health Home Program, CAMBA, Inc.

Moderator: Bonnie Mohan, Director, Bronx Health and Housing Consortium

Design Matters, Matters of Design


When designing supportive housing, architects are not only thinking of beautiful buildings that communities will embrace, but spaces where people can rebuild their lives. At the same time, providers must be able to adapt to changing service needs and new populations within existing buildings. Come hear about the thoughtful design that creates new supportive housing, as well as strategies to transform the buildings you already have.

Sally Bernstein, Assistant Vice President, Capital Planning and Development, Services for the UnderServed
Cindy L. Harden, Partner, Harden Van Arnam Architects
Emily Lehman, Deputy Director of Planning and Development, Division of Special Needs Housing, NYC Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development
Ruth Santos, Tenant, Odyssey House

Moderator: Tim O’Hanlon, Vice President, Hudson Housing Capital

Weaving Primary Healthcare into Onsite Services: Janian


Not long after the 30 year old program Project for Psychiatric Outreach to the Homeless (PPOH) became housed at Center for Urban Community Services, the decision was made to add physical health care in the program’s offer of onsite psychiatric services and to call the package Janian Medical Care. Now providing both types of healthcare at seven supportive housing sites, this workshop describes Janian’s lessons learned and outcomes, and presents some challenges and goals for the future.

Powerpoint Collaboration between Eve Goodman, Dr. Margo Simon, and Dr. Van Yu.

Eve Goodman, Deputy Director of Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement, Center for Urban Community Services
Dr. Margo Simon, Associate Medical Director for Primary Care, Janian Medical Care
Dr. Van Yu, Chief Medical Officer, Janian Medical Care

Moderator: Brenda Rosen, President & CEO, Common Ground

Meditation for Staff and Tenants 

Tenants and staff in supportive housing are increasingly turning to simple mindfulness practices to foster resilience and healing as a way to cultivate well-being for the whole residence and community. The workshop will begin with a brief guided meditation, share examples of different approaches to meditation, and review how meditation has had positive effects on different parts of our community including youth, individuals who have been incarcerated, and survivors of trauma.

Leslie Booker, Director of Trainings, The Lineage Project
Teri Sivilli, Program Manager, Contemplative Based Resilience Project, Garrison Institute
Taz Tagore, Co-Founder, The Reciprocity Foundation

Moderator: Sarah Schenck, Chief Digital & Communications Officer, Supportive Housing Network of New York

WORKSHOP SERIES C

Hope for Hoarders

This workshop introduces the new evidence-based practice, Buried in Treasure (BIT), a 15-class training that has been shown to both reduce clutter and improve tenants’ skills at maintaining healthy, safe housing. We will hear from three experts who have been involved in BIT classes and, in particular, a recent Columbia University study using BIT with people facing hoarding-related eviction.

Danae Sonnenfeld, Volunteer Research Assistant, NYS Psychiatric Institute
Lee Shuer, Founder, Mutual Support Consulting
Jordana Zwerling, Research Coordinator, Columbia University Medical Center at NYS Psychiatric Institute

Moderator: Mike Golub, Senior Trainer, Center for Urban Community Services Institute

Housing High-Need/High-Cost Medicaid Users (HCMUs)


While everyone agrees that stable housing is critical to improving health outcomes for the highest cost/need homeless people, and that placing them in housing is essential to bending the healthcare cost curve, finding and housing those individuals is a challenge – as is paying for that housing. Three of the nation’s innovators in this field will present on what’s working and what isn’t in this fast-evolving conversation.

Arturo Bendixen, Executive Director, Center for Housing and Health AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Dr. Josh Bamberger, Associate Clinical Professor of Family and Community Medicine, UCSF & Chief Medical Consultant, Mercy Housing
Elizabeth Misa, Deputy Medicaid Director, NYS Dept. of Health

Moderator: Eric Weingartner, Managing Director, Robin Hood

Reimagining the New York City Landscape

Join this cross-sector panel of experts to reflect on the early proposals by the City to implement their 200K-unit plan, Housing New York. Business as usual will not do. The literal landscape must change, as must the financial and policy landscape that drives our housing production and preservation efforts. Hear about the successes and challenges learned in year one of the Plan and what to expect moving forward.

Ray HodgesDirector of Planning and Development, Division of Special Needs Housing, NYC Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development
Brad LanderNYC Council Member and Deputy Leader for Policy
Michelle de la UzExecutive Director, Fifth Avenue Committee
Howard SlatkinDeputy Executive Director, Strategic Planning, NYC Dept. of City Planning

Moderator: Nicole BrancaDeputy Executive Director, Supportive Housing Network of New York

Using Mainstream Resources to Help Battle NYC’s Homelessness Crisis
Leaders across the public and private sectors are finding innovative solutions to help house homeless individuals and families. This panel will highlight the City’s priorities and share some of the newest and most innovative strategies for accessing mainstream resources to provide supportive and other homeless housing for New Yorkers.

Margaret Sheffer Brown, Assistant Commissioner, Policy and Operations, NYC Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development
Sally Greenspan, Program Director, Enterprise Community Partners
Frederick Shack, Executive Director, Urban Pathways

Moderator: Karen Sherman, Attorney, ShermanLaw

Ending AIDS in NYS: Housing’s Role



Hear from members of the Governor’s Task Force on Ending AIDS about the state’s strategy to end AIDS in NYS by 2020 and what role supportive housing will play in meeting this laudable goal.

Charles King, President/CEO, Housing Works
Dan O’Connell, Director, AIDS Institute, NYS Dept. of Health
Dan Tietz, Chief Special Services Officer, NYC Human Resources Administration

Moderator: Jacquelyn Kilmer, Chief Executive Officer, Harlem United Community AIDS Center

Balancing Employment and Education Goals for Youth


Providing quality employment services and helping youth pursue their educational goals are among the best ways to engage at-risk young people, those who have experienced trauma and face numerous other barriers to independence. But how do we encourage both, rather than one at the expense of the other? This panel explores a number of new initiatives and strategies to meet the needs of at-risk youth.

Bill Chong, Commissioner, NYC Dept. of Youth and Community Development
Sarah Haas, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, NYC Human Resources Administration
Sophia Heller, Managing Director NYC, Single Stop USA
Denise Hinds, Associate Executive Director for Foster Care, Juvenile Justice and Supportive Housing, Good Shepherd Services

Moderator: Maryanne Schretzman, Executive Director, NYC Center for Innovation through Data Intelligence, NYC Office of the Mayor

Developing for ELI (Extremely Low Income) Tenants


In NYS, there is only one apartment for every three potential ELI households. Here to provide data around New York’s affordability crisis and offer some solutions are three preeminent housing policy experts.

Elina Braave, Senior Research Analyst, National Low Income Housing Coalition
Jessica Yager, Policy Director, NYU Furman Center
Jim Yates, Senior Associate, Technical Assistance Collaborative

Moderator: Aaron Yowell, Associate, Nixon Peabody