AUGUST 2020
Executive Director's Corner

Support the Jericho Family Support Center
We need your help. CHI and the vital work we do is under attack. You may have seen the controversy on local news outlets about CHI’s plans to open the Jericho Family Support Center at a former Hampton Inn in Jericho, Long Island. It will provide emergency housing and services for up to 80 homeless families and result in the termination of Nassau County’s use of three Jericho welfare motels, where families languish without help for an average of two years.  With services in CHI’s state and county-regulated shelters, families move to permanent housing in an average of just six to nine months. 
 
While the Nassau County Executive has strongly supported the project, the Jericho Family Support Center is facing opposition from the Town of Oyster Bay, which got a judge to sign a temporary restraining order halting all activity at the site. We are fighting that order in court.
 
We have been truly humbled by the support we have gained from many Jericho families and the Jericho School District. But the opponents are preying upon the fears of residents and raised $86,000 in a GoFundMe campaign disseminating false information. 
 
We are asking you today to stand up for homeless families and against unfounded discrimination borne of fear. If you are among the tens of thousands of families we have helped escape homelessness in our 36 shelters, among the 750 first time homebuyers we have helped with counseling and down payment assistance, or simply a supporter of CHI and the right of EVERYONE to have shelter, please consider taking a stand with CHI.
 
Go to JFSC FACTS and find out more about the Jericho Family Support Center and how you can help by signing a petition or participating in an event being planned by supporters. At a time of COVID-19 and greater sensitivity to injustice all over the country, please stand up for the families on Long Island experiencing the trauma of homelessness. Please find a way you can help and consider a donation to CHI so that we can continue the “good fight” at DONATE CHI.

Here is the latest news from Newsday and News12 Long Island:
 
 
LETTER OF SUPPORT for JFSC
As Executive Director and CEO of CHI, I appreciate that friends whom I have supported and served with for many years are joining us in the battle to provide compassionate housing and services for homeless families in Jericho. Marge Rogatz is one of my mentors for nearly 30 years, who led the effort to provide supportive housing on Long Island, a founder of the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless, and a good friend. Elaine Gross of Erase Racism has been instrumental in opening our eyes to the profound injustice of racial discrimination and its pervasive impact on housing on Long Island. Paul Tonna, former Presiding Officer of the Suffolk County Legislature, is also activating his influential Rolodex of leaders on Long Island to support our cause. They have all sent letters in support. 
 
Today, we received a letter, sent to County Executive Laura Curran from Andrew Malekoff, CEO of the North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center.

Please read this important letter.
STATEMENT ON AFFIRMATIVELY FURTHERING FAIR HOUSING
Joint Communiqué from:
  • Allied Community Enterprises
  • Community Housing Innovations
  • Housing Action Council
  • Westchester Residential Opportunities

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) is not a new rule. Rather, it has been the law of the land since the Fair Housing Act was enacted in 1968. It is, importantly, a long overdue and much needed attempt to ensure that all people have equal opportunity to live free from discrimination in decent, accessible housing. The Fair Housing Act requires HUD to administer its programs in a manner "affirmatively to further" the purposes of the Fair Housing Act. 
SEPTEMBER HOMEBUYER ORIENTATION SCHEDULE
$25,000 in Down Payment Assistance
Available to Buy Your First Home

CHI offers grant assistance to first-time home buyers toward the down payment and rehabilitation costs associated with purchasing a home on Long Island and in Westchester.

To learn if you qualify, please register and attend an upcoming home buyer orientation webinar.



You must attend an orientation to apply for a grant.