Posted on December 14, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone Supportive housing rescues our most vulnerable neighbors from the trauma of homelessness and gives them the ongoing help they need to transform their lives. Since the first City-State supportive housing agreement in 1990, thousands of New Yorkers struggling with mental illness and other disabilities have been able to break the devastating and costly cycle of chronic homelessness. Unfortunately, thousands more who have been found eligible are still languishing in shelters or on the streets, waiting for a unit to open up: There is only one supportive housing unit available for every six eligible applicants. Last month, Mayor de Blasio announced that the City would start closing that gap by creating 15,000 units of supportive housing over the next 15 years. But in order to meet the record need, the State must match this commitment, unit for unit, as part of a fourth NY/NY agreement. Jennifer Peltz of the Associated Press recently spoke with advocates as well as supportive housing residents about this proven, research-backed solution to homelessness. Dating to the 1980s, supportive housing has expanded from under 190,000 residents nationwide in 2007 to over 300,000 in 2014, federal statistics show. It’s been credited with reducing chronic homelessness in Utah from 1,900 people to just 178 in a decade. Places from San Francisco to Massachusetts have major programs. “It’s more than just getting people out of sight by giving them a home,” says Mary Brosnahan, president of the Coalition for the Homeless advocacy group. “Because once they have that … they can flip that switch from survival to working on thriving.” New York is betting big on it at a time when homelessness has come front and center. About 58,000 people now rely on shelters — 12 percent more than two years ago — possibly thousands more live on the streets, and the city logged 60 percent more complaints about homelessness this year than last. Homelessness has declined nationwide in recent years while rising in some places — Los Angeles and Hawaii recently declared it a state of emergency — as rents climbed ahead of incomes, among other likely factors. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his plan last month to nearly double the 32,000 existing supportive housing apartments citywide. The earlier ones were partly state-financed. The plan includes building 7,500 new apartments and designating 7,500 others scattered in various buildings, where social workers would visit regularly.
