Welcome to the February 2015 issue of Network News, the Supportive Housing Network of New York's monthly e-newsletter. You'll find lead articles on the NY/NY 4 agreement and the Governor's budget as well as a story on a wonderful new residence opening in Schenectady. Thanks for reading!
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 The Campaign 4 NY/NY Housing (the "Campaign") wrote Governor Cuomo a letter on February 3, 2015 acknowledging the tragedy of record homelessness in New York City and requesting a much more substantial commitment to addressing this dire need. The 5,000 units of supportive housing statewide announced by the Governor in his Executive Budget are a positive seed to this effort, but we need much more. The Network is one of nearly 200 organizations signing on to this critical effort. The letter outlined the desperate need for a much greater commitment to supportive housing in addition to these 5,000 units. The Network supports the Campaign's ask of 30,000 units in NYC, and requests an additional 5,000 units upstate. |
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Governor Cuomo Announces New Appointees
Kisha Santiago-Martinez is Assistant Secretary for Housing
 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced new appointments to his administration on January 11, 2015, stating "this team will build on the extraordinary progress made over the last four years by bringing experience, energy and fresh perspectives to the table."
Bill Mulrow was appointed Secretary to the Governor. He succeeds Lawrence Schwartz, who departed the administration for the private sector. Most recently Mr. Mulrow was a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, an alternative asset manager. Mr. Mulrow also served in numerous public positions throughout his career, including as Governor Cuomo's appointee as the Chairman of the New York State Housing Finance Agency and the State of New York Mortgage Agency. 
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Housing Focus in Mayor de Blasio's State of the City Address
Mayor exceeds first year's target for affordable housing creation and preservation
 Affordable housing was the major focus of Mayor de Blasio's State of the City address, Feb. 4th. The Mayor detailed his administration's accomplishments in its first year as well as plans for achieving the goal of creating 200,000 affordable apartment in ten years. The Mayor spoke with pride of having exceeded his year one goal within his ambitious 10 year plan to create or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing, announcing the City has preserved/created 17,300 units of affordable housing thus far. He also laid out the City's three part strategy for getting to 200,000 through mandatory inclusionary zoning, increasing density in key neighborhoods and tripling legal services aimed at helping tenants maintain their affordable housing. Mayor de Blasio also announced a number of reforms at the Department of Buildings aimed at diminishing administrative burdens associated with developing.
The Mayor also committed to creating housing for discrete populations including seniors and artists and committed the City to ending chronic veteran homelessness in 2016, an initiative being driven by the federal government and implemented by the Continuums of Care. As reported earlier, New York City is well on its way to achieving this important goal.
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Schenectady Celebrates the Grand Opening of 845 Commons Residence
Largest single site supportive housing residence west of the Hudson
 | | Cutting the ribbon at 845 Commons residence in Schenectady |
The Capital Region YMCA held a grand opening of the largest single site supportive housing residence west of the Hudson January 16th: 845 Commons in Schenectady. This impressive project provides housing for 155 formerly homeless men, with a preference for both veterans and Schenectady County natives (all current tenants are from Schenectady County) as well as 25 apartments for individuals coping with a mental illness. The ceremonial ribbon was significantly longer than usual and the distinguished guests included Daryl Towns, CEO of NYS HCR; the Mayor of Schenectady, Gary McCarthy; Assemblyman Jim Tesdisco; Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara; and Brett Hebner from OTDA. Governor Cuomo sent greetings and praise: "845 Commons gives hope to people, especially veterans, who need a decent place to live and services to help them succeed."
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Network Members Form Bulk Energy Purchasing Consortium
17 organizations representing 520 buildings join together
 Last June, Housing and Services Inc. and Bright Power - with a grant funding from JPMorgan Chase Foundation -- formed the Bulk Energy Procurement Initiative (BEPI), a consortium that allows supportive and affordable housing organizations across New York State to purchase natural gas and electricity in bulk, lowering the cost, and eliminating the price volatility, of energy. The two-year pilot has thus far involved seventeen organizations that collectively own 520 buildings in New York City. The consortium has had two buying rounds to date: the pooled purchase prices of electricity and gas were 6% and 9% lower than Con Ed Solutions' non bulk rates.
Community Access Director of Real Estate Maggi Knox has been pleased with the collaboration: "Mary Galbally and the staff at Bright Power did a masterful job of pulling together our ESCO bid group. They provided a wealth of information, were always available by email and phone call, and guided us through every step of the process."
For more information about BEPI, contact Mary Galbally at Housing and Services: 212-252-9377, ext. 104 or visit hsi-ny.org.
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Statewide NY/NY Plan Announced 
Statewide NY/NY Plan
As the NY/NY III agreement concludes, the governor proposed 5,000 units of new supportive housing to be created for a new NY/NY 4 agreement over the next five years. While the Network applauds the expansion of the plan to the entire state, the number of NY/NY 4 units proposed is less than half of the number of State-funded units under NY/NY III, and just one-sixth of what is recommended by the Campaign 4 NY/NY Housing.
Rate increases for Office of Mental Health Supported Housing
An additional $50 million in JP Morgan settlement funding, ($10 million per year for five years), will help offset cost increases in scatter-site housing in areas with rapidly escalating fair market rents. This is a much needed intervention, but represents only 10% of the current need across all OMH housing types, which in fact is $99 million.
Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance Homeless Services
Service funding for the combined New York State Supportive Housing Program (NYSSHP), Services to End Homelessness Program (STEHP) and Operating Support for AIDS Housing (OSAH) reached $31,681,000 which is a $400,000 increase. The Network has called for $2.46 million for new NYSSHP funding, $5 million for new STEHP funding and an additional $573,000 for a 2% increase for NYSSHP staff salaries this year.
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Network Jobs Board Check out these job openings and many others on our Jobs Board. Network members can post their employment opportunities for free! Social Worker for Henry Street Settlement Visiting Counselors
for Geels
Assistant Housing Manager
for Comunilife
Housekeeper for Common Ground's Prince George Ballroom Outreach Housing Advocate
for Common Ground
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Upcoming Events
Continuous Quality Improvement on February 18th; Coordinating Property Management and Social Services on March 4th; and Non-coercive Approaches to Conflict Management on March 10th. Join the Network and the Social Security Administration for an in-depth presentation, for supportive housing employees, about Social Security retirement benefits on Feb. 26th. NYSERDA / Solar One Trainings: the Networks offers discounted green building training for supportive housing building staff. The second day of the two-day training will be held Feb. 11, 1/2 day exam on Feb. 12. Details here.
Head over to our website to register for these trainings and to learn more about all our events!
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News Clips
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Member News
Our big congratulations to Network Board member Deborah Damm O'Brien on receiving the prestigious Vincenza DeFazio Award from the New York State Council of Catholic Charities Directors.
Inwood House and Children's Village have merged. Carlton S. Mitchell will lead Inwood House's transition in the role of Interim Executive Director. "We are excited about partnering with The Children's Village," said Inwood House Board President Andrew Wozniak. "Together we can leverage Inwood House's specialized expertise and knowledge to expand beyond direct service and bring the issues of pregnant and parenting teens to the forefront of the national agenda."
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