Welcome to the December 2014 issue of Network News, the Supportive Housing Network of New York's monthly e-newsletter. You'll find lead articles on three new residence openings and an update on our emergency preparedness trainings. Thanks for reading!

CAMBA Gardens Grows on the Grounds of Kings County Hospital

209 units of affordable and supportive housing.

Cutting the ribbon at CAMBA Gardens.
Photo credit: Vanni Archives Architectural Photography

CAMBA just opened two gorgeous buildings on the grounds of the Kings County Hospital campus, called CAMBA Gardens I, at 690 and 738 Albany Avenue, on November 17th, with 209 units of affordable and supportive housing. The second phase of the development broke ground that same day and will ultimately provide nearly 300 additional units of housing.

146 of the units are supportive housing for formerly homeless/special needs families and individuals and 61 units are affordable housing with a preference given to community members, low-wage employees of Kings County Hospital Center, and people left homeless by Superstorm Sandy.

Giving a rousing welcome to the large crowd in attendance, Joanne M. Oplustil, CAMBA's President and CEO and Network Board member, said, "for the last 37 years, CAMBA has worked closely with New Yorkers facing a variety of obstacles daily, and we recognize that affordable housing, access to supportive services, and quality healthcare need to work concurrently to ensure a quality life. CAMBA Gardens is a unique opportunity to provide all three."

Providence House's Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan Residence Opens in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn

This $8.2 million development provides permanent service-enriched affordable housing for homeless adults.

Sister Janet Kinney cuts the ribbon at Sullivan Residence.

On November 19th, Providence House and Alembic Community Development opened the Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan Residence, an $8.2 million development providing permanent service-enriched affordable housing for homeless adults and low-income community residents. Holy water from Lourdes was used to bless the residence and its environs by the Sisters of St. Joseph.

Sister Janet Kinney, Executive Director of Providence House remarked, "this is a wonderful day for us as we celebrate the opening of our second permanent supportive housing development...we couldn't be more thrilled to be expanding our work in this way and helping our tenants stabilize their lives and become fully participatory members in the local community."

Bishop Sullivan Residence provides 22 units of affordable housing for individuals and families earning 60% of area median income (AMI) or less. The residence houses 20 studios and two two-bedroom apartments. Seventeen of the studios are set aside for NY/NY III-eligible homeless single adults who have special needs. The remaining units are for income qualified community residents.

Binghamton Honored as First U.S. City to End Veteran Homelessness

A great success housing homeless veterans.

Holly Leicht, Regional Administrator for New York and New Jersey of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, presents the award to Binghamton Mayor Rich David.

On November 12th, just 2 months after signing on, Binghamton became the first city in the country to complete the "Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness" of the 250 cities to sign the pledge.

Binghamton was able to house all 21 veterans identified as homeless, and committed that no veteran will ever be homeless in the city again.

HUD-funded Homeless Outreach worker Theresa Wade said, "We started back in July and followed HUD's plan by identifying our homeless vets. We were able to do what we did because we worked together for the veterans as a team."

Jim Hulse, Coordinator of the Continuum of Care for NYS 511 (five Southern Tier counties surrounding Binghamton) and the Administrator of the Homeless Management Information System for the Continuum of Care said, The City of Binghamton's blue ribbon commission included HUD, the VA, Volunteers of America of Upstate NY, the YWCA, Fairview Recovery Services, our local housing authority and Soldier On."

We applaud Binghamton's work to end homelessness among veterans!

Emergency Preparedness Initiative-Focus on Evacuation Planning

Critical resources for members are available now.

When superstorm Sandy hit New York City in 2012 many of our supportive housing community's organizations, residences and tenants were deeply affected. In the summer of 2013, a group of Network members convened to discuss the community's preparedness needs.

Soon after the roundtable discussion the New York City Housing and Neighborhood Recovery Donor's Collaborative offered the Network the opportunity to develop a Supportive Housing Emergency Prep Initiative. The Network began a comprehensive year-long effort to help our community prepare for a range of disasters. We hired EAD Associates, a consulting firm devoted to emergency prep for special needs populations.

EAD surveyed Network members and conducted in-depth interviews with the 12 organizations hardest hit by Sandy to determine what members wanted and needed in terms of assistance. They also interviewed our City and State government funders to determine agency expectations and protocols. This research informed the creation of two emergency plan templates - one organization-wide, the other for single site residences -- custom-designed for our supportive housing providers. It also informed three trainings.

Utica Place Brightens Brooklyn

A welcome new supportive housing residence!

Cutting the ribbon at Utica Place, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Jericho Project is proud to announce the opening of beautiful new Utica Place affordable housing development for low income families and U.S. veterans. The development includes two buildings: a spacious 12-story affordable rental building with a roof garden and a four-story commercial building that has community space, a church, and a daycare center.

At the November 20, 2014 ribbon cutting, Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Vicki Been said, "too often, veterans and their families struggle to find a safe, affordable place to call home upon their return. We thank our partners at L+M Development and Jericho Project for their commitment to meeting the deep need for affordable housing for this vulnerable community."

In This Issue

CAMBA Gardens Grows

Providence House's Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan Residence Opens

Binghamton Honored as First U.S. City to End Veteran Homelessness

Emergency Preparedness Initiative - Evacuation Planning

Utica Place Brightens Brooklyn

Network

Jobs Board

Check out these job openings and many others on our Jobs Board. Network members can post their employment opportunities for free!

Part-time Counselor Advocate

at Henry Street Settlement

Porter

at Common Ground's the Lenniger Residence.

Case Aide

at Common Ground's Scatter-Site Program in the Bronx

Assistant Program Director - OMH Bronx

at Comunilife

Upcoming Events

Emergency Communications Planning Webinar for Supportive Housing Providers

The Network is thrilled to continue our 3-part series of training in emergency planning to help supportive housing providers prepare their buildings, tenants and organizations for a range of potential disasters. This Webinar on December 10 will address Communications Planning for Supportive Housing Organizations - as it is one of the most critical planning areas facing tenants and staff. The training is aimed toward director-level staff: CEOs, CFOs, COOs, directors of programs, and facility managers/directors. Register here.

The Network will continue to partner with the Center for Urban Community Services to offer discounted trainings to Network members. On offer for December & January: a training on Providing Effective Supervision on December 9 and a training on Critical Time Intervention on January 14.

Head over to our website to register for these trainings and to learn more about all our events!

News Clips

Reciprocity Foundation received a big thumbs up in terms of their long-range potential to have an impact on their mission of transforming the lives of homeless young people in an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review by Alice Gugelev & Andrew Stern. Article link.

The Huffington Post featured a rousing article by Carla Javits in recognition of National Homelessness Awareness Month on how the Public Will Can Change Homelessness, that drew upon lessons she learned during her time with the Corporation for Supportive Housing.

Comings and Goings

Laura Mascuch officially took the helm as the Network's Executive Director on December 1st. Read our blog post on her here. Great to have you with us, Laura!

Trish Marsik, formerly Assistant Commissioner at DOHMH, where she spent ten years overseeing 500+ treatment, rehabilitation, housing, case management, advocacy, and Assisted Outpatient Treatment programs, is now Executive Director, Mayor's Task Force on Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice, Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice. Congratulations, Trish!

In more Network news, Robin Pagliuco joined the Network on December 1st as Policy Analyst, after interning with Deutsche Bank's Social Investment Group and is currently pursuing her graduate degree in Urban Policy at the New School. Welcome, Robin! We're happy to have you on board.

Former Network Policy Analyst Johanna Walczyk is now Program Officer at Local Initiatives Support Corporation - Buffalo (LISC). Best wishes, Johanna!