Please join us to honor supportive housing's heroes at the Supportive Housing Network of New York's 2014 gala on October 15th from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at Capitale, 130 Bowery in New York City.  

The fight to end veteran homelessness got a big boost on September 29th with the opening of Liberty Village, in Amityville, NY, a new 60-unit supportive housing residence for veterans and their families from

Concern for Independent Living. Headlining the event was long-time project champion Senator Charles E. Schumer, who also presided over the project's groundbreaking in October 2012.

 

"This is great news for Long Island veterans, who willingly risked life and limb for our country," said Senator Schumer. "We overcame many obstacles to get here, but now 60 vets and their families will thankfully be provided with a comfortable place to live. I'm grateful to Concern for Independent Living for seeing this project to fruition."

   

ACMH Opens Two New Residences in NYC

ACMH opened TWO supportive housing residences in September: the East 144th Street Residence in the South Bronx and Markus Gardens in Jamaica, Queens. The residences are part of NY/NY III and provide housing to a mix of individuals struggling with homelessness and behavioral health challenges and very low-income people from the neighborhood. And both offer housing options to young adults coming from institutional settings. Both openings also put tenants front and center quite literally: at both ceremonies it was tenants who stole the show at the podium and who held the always-present giant scissors.    

 

First came the South Bronx opening, September 12th: some fifty well-wishers and partners gathered on a gloriously sunny afternoon to celebrate the completion of a new residence that will provide 42 apartments for adults and young adults with special needs and 18 apartments for individuals and families from the community (at 30-40% of AMI!).

   

Yet another milestone: Dr. Frank Lipton, the Executive Deputy Commissioner / Medical Director of the NYC Human Resources Administration retired this week. Dr. Lipton was honored at the Network's Awards Gala last year with the Tim O'Hanlon Unsung Hero award for his nearly three decades of work playing an instrumental, behind-the-scenes role in the supportive housing movement. With little fanfare, Dr. Lipton helped to create the program design, referral and data tracking mechanisms that made supportive housing the successful, widely-replicated model it is today. Thanks to his service, thousands of formerly homeless and disabled New Yorkers have a home tonight.

 

Dr. Lipton was a constant behind New York's historic New York/New York supportive housing agreements. As we discovered from the Fathers John McVean and Felice who gave Dr. Lipton his award, Dr. Lipton's passion for supportive housing got its start when he was a doctor at Bellevue. In the decades following, Dr. Lipton helped guide the design and passage of NY/NY I, helped usher in NY/NY II, and was at the forefront again designing, implementing and course-correcting NY/NY III.

 

The Network thanks Dr. Lipton for his enormous contributions and wishes him a wonderful retirement.

The Mental Health Commission of Canada implemented a five city, 2,000-participant supportive housing program using a housing first approach to test the model's impact. Using randomized control groups and tracking tenant outcomes over two years, the study is the world's largest and most rigorous of the housing first approach. 

"Housing first" (HF) is a form of supportive housing wherein participants are offered supportive housing with no requirements as to tenants' housing readiness. The outcomes of the study are impressive: investing in supportive housing for those with the highest needs saves more than two dollars for every dollar invested. 

Sam Marks to Lead LISC as Executive Director, New York Office; Denise Scott is LISC's new Executive Vice President

Sam Marks

Denise Scott

Our long-time friend Sam Marks is leaving his post at Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation next month to become Executive Director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation's NYC program. As many of our members know, Mr. Marks ran the DB SHARE program (Supportive Housing Acquisition and Redevelopment Effort) which provides three year grants to support pre-development. Mr. Marks was also a leader of their energy efficiency/community resiliency programs.

 

At LISC, Mr. Marks succeeds Denise Scott, LISC NYC's leader and a central figure in New York community development for more than two decades. Ms. Scott -- a life-long advocate for affordable housing and community development -- was promoted in January to LISC Executive Vice President. Ms. Scott, who recently sat on the Network's Board of Directors, is now in charge of local programs in 30 urban areas across the country as well as LISC's rural development work in 39 states.

 

Congratulations Denise and Sam: we look forward to working with you in your new roles!