New York City and New York State have announced a major collaboration to increase the creation and availability of supportive housing for homeless and high needs individuals and families. The announcement came at this morning’s opening of the Supportive Housing Network of New York’s 12th Annual Statewide Conference being held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.
New York City has set a goal of doubling its supportive housing production from 500 units annually to 1,000 units annually, said Mathew Wambua, Commissioner of NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). The increase will come through a collaborative use of resources being made available from a number of City and State agencies.
As part of its Medicaid Redesign initiative, the State will be making $75 million in Medicaid funding available to create supportive housing available for high needs and high costs Medicaid recipients where there is a believe that the provision of stable housing will allow significant improvements in health and consequent reductions in Medicaid spending. An initial $25 million of this allocation is being made available for capital funding for State NYNY III supportive housing projects.
For the first time, the NYS Department of Homes and Community Renewal will be making capital funding available to supportive housing in addition to bond financing and 4% tax credits, said Commissioner Darryl Towns.
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has committed to provide 200 Section 8 vouchers available annually for the creation of new supportive housing unit – the first ever commitment of its kind. The vouchers will support homeless families and individuals referred by the Department of Homeless Services and NYCHA residents who require supportive services. In addition, NYCHA is planning to collaborate with HPD on RFPs for development of supportive housing on underutilized NYCHA land, explained NYCHA Chairman John Rea.
“This is truly historic at a time like this for the state and city to commit new resources and redeploy existing resources to house the most vulnerable among us,” said William Taylor, Chair of the Supportive Housing Network Board of Directors.
“Moments like these are the culmination of a lot effort,” said Ted Houghton, SHNNY Executive Director. “This comes down to leadership by these individuals who have tremendous vision and who have pursued it against all barriers.”
More information on these initiatives, including the announcement of anticipated Requests for Proposals by several State and City agencies, will be made available when they are announced.
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