Welcome to the September 2015 issue of Network News, the Supportive Housing Network of New York's monthly e-newsletter. You'll find lead articles on the Buffalo legislators supporting the Campaign 4 NY/NY Housing; the Network bringing Richard Gere and Oren Moverman to visit supportive housing; the upcoming NYS Supportive Housing Awards Gala; and Laura Jervis' retirement from WSFSSH. Thanks for reading!
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Buffalo Legislators and Community Leaders Call for 35,000 Supportive Housing Units at Project Homeless Connect Event
The Network helps lead the charge
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Photos on left and right: Project Homeless Connect reaches out to create a bridge of support services for homeless citizens. Photo in center: on stage at the event (from left): Mark Boyd, representative for Assembly Member Crystal Peoples-Stokes; Gale Burstein, Erie County Health Commissioner; Mark Schroeder, Buffalo City Comptroller; Senator Tim Kennedy (D-Buffalo); Network member Joyelle Tedeschi, Director of Programs, Matt Urban Hope Center (speaking); Senator Marc Panepinto (D-Buffalo); Assembly Member Sean Ryan (D-Buffalo).
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Project Homeless Connect, the annual event that provides services to more than 600 Buffalo area homeless individuals was also the backdrop this year, for state legislators and community leaders' calling on
Governor Cuomo to fund 35,000 supportive housing units across the state to help address homelessness among the neediest New Yorkers.
"New York State should make a significant investment in supportive housing here in Western New York and across the state," said
Assembly Member Sean Ryan.
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The Network Brings Richard Gere and Oren Moverman to Supportive Housing
The filmmakers visit Fortune Society and Goddard Riverside
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Richard Gere and Oren Moverman with tenants and staff from the Fortune Society, the Network, and Goddard Riverside.
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Honorees Announced for 2015 Awards Gala
Tenants of the Year and Residences of the Year will be announced soon
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| Awardees at the 2014 Network gala |
We are delighted to announce the 2015 Supportive Housing Network of New York Awards Gala honorees: our
Government Partner of the Year is the
New York State Assembly as represented by NYS Assembly Speaker
Carl E. Heastie and Social Services Chair
Andrew Hevesi. Our
Private Sector Partner of the Year is the
Affordable Housing Group at
Nixon Peabody LLP. And our
Tim O'Hanlon Unsung Hero of the Year is
Craig Retchless, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Customized Assistance Services, NYC Human Resources Administration.
As always, we'll be honoring outstanding supportive housing tenants and residences at the Gala as well.
We hope that you will join us on
Wednesday, October 14th at Capitale, from 6:00-9:00 pm, 130 Bowery, New York City!
Click
HERE to purchase tickets or sponsor.
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Governor Cuomo Accepts Recommendations Aimed at Easing Re-entry for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals
Two Network members included on Council
Governor Cuomo this week accepted all 12 recommendations aimed at easing re-entry and reintegration for formerly incarcerated individuals made by the Council on Re-Entry and Reintegration. One of the recommendations calls for the inclusion of re-entering individuals coping with mental illness as a target population for supportive housing. The Council was convened last year and included Network members
JoAnne Page, President and CEO, The Fortune Society and
George McDonald, Founder and President of the Doe Fund.
The comprehensive recommendations address a range of barriers to re-integration, including restrictions on accessing New York State funded housing, improving policies regarding employment practices including changes in agencies' licensure regulations and easing barriers to obtaining state-issued identification including driver's licenses.
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The Network Hosts Scattered Site Roundtable
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| Laura Mascuch addresses the audience. |
In response to mounting concern from the supportive housing community about the increasing difficulties around finding and keeping rental apartments for scattered-site contracts, the Network convened more than 40 representatives from more than 20 member organizations on September 11
th to discuss challenges and brainstorm solutions. The participating organizations are responsible for nearly half of all scattered site contracts in the City.
Before the meeting, the Network collected some preliminary data from participants about the landscape as a means of framing the conversation: we asked for information on rents by borough, units lost due to non-renewal of leases, and the length of time it took to find an apartment. Preliminary results showed a significant uptick in leases lost over the last two years and that it was taking an average of three months longer to find apartments.
Following the presentation, we broke into small groups to both drill down on specific problems providers were having as well as share promising practices. The general themes of lack of affordable apartments, increases in caseloads and increases in tenant trauma due to moves and doubling up were persuasive. The Network is currently circulating a new survey to capture additional data. We intend to analyze the new information along with that already collected and create a brief report to share with government partners this fall.
The Network thanks all of the providers who participated in the survey and attended the event. Your efforts are appreciated as we prepare for our advocacy this fall and beyond.
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Network Staff Update
Raj Hosein, who has been overseeing all the Network's finances, operations and IT for the past 14 years has been named the Network's Director of Finance and Administration.
After four years working to advance the Network's advocacy goals,
Edline Jacquet was promoted to the position of Senior Policy Analyst.
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dney Kopp-Richardson joined the Network in August as our Director of Program Services and will be responsible for member services, ensuring the success of all Network convenings - including next month's Awards Gala and the Conference in June and working with the policy staff on emerging issues. She brings a background in mental health and homeless services and community organizing. Sydney was most recently an educator and advocate for LGBTQ and HIV-affected survivors of violence at The New York City Anti-Violence Project. Sydney looks forward to community-centered collaboration and building our collective knowledge and strength with members of the Network. Welcome, Sydney!
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Laura Jervis Retires from the Westside Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing
One of the founders of the supportive housing movement
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Laura Jervis, celebrates with her team from WSFSSH at the 2014 Network gala
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L
aura R. Jervis - one of the founders of the supportive housing movement as well as the founder and Executive Director of the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, Inc. (WSFSSH) since 1977 stepped down as executive director in August.
Laura was one of the handful of people we refer to as the Godparents of Supportive Housing. Out of a desire to serve the most vulnerable people in her neighborhood who were being rapidly displaced, she created WSFSSH (and, not long after, gathered with other pioneers to create what later became the Supportive Housing Network). As you'll read in the quotes from her long-term colleagues (and fans) Laura's bone-deep respect for all people infused everything she did and made the model what it is: quality, respectful housing...home.
After helping to invent the model, Laura's brilliance and dedication helped WSFSSH become a major developer of supportive housing in New York City: 24 buildings with 1,700 units. She was the focus of a firestorm of NIMBY ugliness for turning the hell-hole that was Euclid Hall into quality supportive housing (
Scott Stringer swears a NIMBYist hit him over the head with an umbrella). She spent years working with concerned neighbors in Harlem to renovate a cluster of brownstones. And when she saw that one of the effects of the crack epidemic was that thousands of grandparents were now having to raise their grandchildren, she wove together a complex tapestry of funding to create GrandParent Family Apartments. Her always on-target guidance and wisdom has been a mainstay of both her own organization and the supportive housing community she helped create.
The Network's Chair,
Bill Traylor: "one is left speechless simply because there is so much to say and so few words adequate to say it all. Laura Jervis is a towering giant among the rest of us and she never let us realize that we are Lilliputians. That for me sums up Laura: an exceptional talent, equally brilliant at conceptualization as at implementation; an extraordinary manger and exquisite business person that we are fortunate is on the side of justice; a leader and a Dynamo in human services who never ever sees a problem only solutions; but her truest self - empathy and compassion entwined - brought all these qualities out in others equally, including myself. Laura is a giant among us who has made us mere Lilliputians all giants too! How fortunate we are to have her leadership, her brilliance, her excep
tional talent within supportive housing for so long."
Ellen Baxter of Broadway Housing Communities: "The tenure of Laura Jervis' leadership is distinctive for its sustained generosity and sensitive moral compass. Her generosity is visible first and foremost in the progressive and trailblazing service and housing initiatives created at WSFSSH serving many thousands of the most vulnerable New Yorkers. This generosity combined with a bold sensibility for social justice has extended further to impact all levels of government and key stakeholders of the supportive housing community. We've all benefited following her tracks, and now we hold core responsibilities to carry forward the moral standard Laura practiced deftly and so powerfully with an indelible spirit of generosity."
Stephan Russo of Goddard Riverside: "I can't think of a more passionate advocate for supportive housing than Laura Jervis. She is one of the founders of this entire movement. As a fellow West side organization, she and I have worked hand in hand over many years preserving this incredibly important housing resource for some of our poorest citizens."
We here at the Network are heartened by the knowledge that she will stay among us, developing new models of quality, respectful housing for new needy populations. But she will be missed.
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OMH Supported Apartment Rate Increases Begin to Take Effect
All five boroughs of NYC and 25 of the 57 additional counties receive increases
Providers may have missed the news that OMH is providing a rate increase to the rates paid for the supported housing apartment program. All five boroughs of New York City and 25 of the 57 additional counties received stipend increases effective April 1
st. This was based on a proportional allocation of additional resources that advocates including ACL and the Network fought for in Albany, and are primarily based on HUD's Fair Market Rents. There is still a long way to go before agencies are able to pay the Fair Market Rate in many high cost areas.
Additionally, the cost of living increases won over the past two budget cycles resulted in a per unit, per year increase of between $45 and $81. With both the stipend increases and targeted COLAs, Some areas of the state have seen the Supported Housing rate increase by up to 10%.
These rate increases will be implemented as agencies renew their contracts with OMH.
The Network will continue to press for greater rate increases for the OMH Supported Housing program.
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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!
High School Tutor for Henry Street Settlement
Inventory Clerk / Office Assistant for Henry Street Settlement
Assistant Housing Manager
for Comunilife
Substance Abuse Counselor for Comunilife
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Upcoming Events
The Network's annual awards gala will be held on Wednesday, October 14th, from 6-9pm, at Capitale, 130 Bowery, New York City. Click
here to purchase tickets or sponsor.
CUCS/Network Trainings:
Non-Coercive Approaches to Conflict Management
Date: Wed., Oct. 28, 2015
Time: 9:30am-3:30pm
Location: CUCS
Address: 198 East 121 Street, 5th Floor, NYC 10035
Register
here.
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News Clips
'Time Out of Mind': Director Oren Moverman narrates a scene from the new movie, starring Richard Gere, in the
New York Times.
Nice coverage from Fox News of
Walton Avenue residence groundbreaking and interview with Veteran Lisa Spencer.
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Comings and Goings
In July,
Paul Freitag was selected as the Executive Director of WSFSSH.
Mr. Freitag comes to WSFSSH with over twenty years of experience in the non-profit and for-profit sectors, as a developer, owner, and advocate for affordable and supportive housing. He began his career in affordable housing in the early 1990's through organizing teams of volunteers to participate in sweat-equity affordable housing projects. He has over 10 years of direct experience developing and managing housing with supportive services for Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens, and more recently, worked at Jonathan Rose Companies
where he developed the Rose Company's collaborative supportive housing effort with Fortune Society: Castle Gardens.
Sheila Crowley announced that she plans to retire next year, after 17 years as President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). A longtime close friend of the Network, Ms. Crowley's powerful advocacy led to the creation of the National Housing Trust Fund, the first new federal funding in a generation that is targeted to expand the supply of rental housing affordable for extremely low income households. NLIHC is now at the forefront in helping states prepare to utilize the new Trust Fund dollars, fighting back recent attempts to defund the NHTF, and advocating for new non-appropriated resources. Crowley also initiated the United for Homes campaign that seeks to modify the mortgage interest deduction and use the revenue raised to fund the NHTF.
Kristin Barlup Toombs recently left Robin Hood Foundation to become M
anager of the Homeless Programs Team within the Division of Housing within the Department of Local Affairs for Colorado's state government.
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