Albany Times Union (Sunday)

Supportive housing helps keep people off the streets

But this state-funded program urgently needs more support

- By Kevin O’Connor ▶ Kevin O’Connor is executive director of Joseph’s House & Shelter in Troy. He is retiring this spring.

As I look back, on the eve of my retirement after more than three decades spent helping the most vulnerable homeless New Yorkers live in health and dignity, a clear arc emerges.

During this period, I witnessed both the beginning of widespread homelessne­ss in this state and the birth of the best means of ending it: supportive housing.

Early on, I was aware of the Franciscan friars in New York City who raised private funds to buy and renovate a dilapidate­d single-room occupancy hotel to provide permanent housing for formally institutio­nalized homeless individual­s. The friars coaxed mental health profession­als to provide on-site services, which allowed residents to stay safely housed.

At the time, this model was a cutting-edge experiment. It has since evolved considerab­ly and countless studies have shown it is the most widely accepted and powerful tool available to combat chronic homelessne­ss that also saves taxpayer dollars.

Today, New York is a global leader in creating supportive housing. But as additional investment­s have been made in this important model, the very first state-funded program — now known as the New York State Supportive Housing Program — has been left behind and is still receiving about the same level of financial support it received in 1987.

As a result, the nonprofits that run NYSSHP-funded programs — including Joseph’s House and Shelter, which I have directed since 2013 — are struggling to stay afloat, putting the stability and housing of more than 20,000 formerly homeless residents across the state in jeopardy. If Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislatur­e fail to right that wrong in this year’s state budget and significan­tly increase NYSSHP funding, much of the progress we have made over the past 30 years will be undone.

State lawmakers clearly understand the need to appropriat­ely fund supportive housing. In 2016, they created the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative, the largest commitment of its kind in history, which pays five times more in service funding than NYSSHP. But the state never brought the original NYSSHP initiative in line with the new and improved one, so housing programs that began under the NYSSHP umbrella remain chronicall­y underfunde­d and struggle to sustain themselves.

That’s why NYSSHP-funded programs find it nearly impossible to pay their staff living wages, exacerbati­ng an ongoing labor shortage in the nonprofit and human services sectors. Providers can’t even compete with Walmart wages despite the unbelievab­ly challengin­g nature of their work. As a result, residences are understaff­ed and the remaining staff must pick up the slack, burning out earlier.

Adding insult to injury, the lackluster 2.5 percent cost-of-living increase for human services workers that was proposed in the governor’s executive budget doesn’t even cover the workers paid through NYSSHP.

At Joseph’s House & Shelter, we provide housing and services to more than 200 tenants a year. They have prolonged histories of homelessne­ss and have coped with persistent mental health and substance abuse disabiliti­es. Up until now, our programs have seen a 90 percent annual housing retention rate. That is in jeopardy due to the low NYSSHP funding rates, which impact our ability to adequately compensate our staff. What was once a stable and sustainabl­e primary career is now a secondary job for many of our employees, who need multiple paychecks to support themselves and their families.

The program and operating income that Joseph’s House receives through NYSSHP covers just 71 percent of our costs, with more than three-quarters of that aid going to support our workforce. The organizati­on needs to raise more than $165,000 in additional private funds each year just to keep one of our NYSSHP-funded supportive housing programs afloat. This is not a sustainabl­e model.

Supportive housing is about justice. It’s about treating people with dignity and not judging them. It’s about compassion and recognizin­g that any one of us could be similarly afflicted. We have a responsibi­lity as a community to take care of everyone among us. Supportive housing is a proven model that works. It’s time for the governor and state lawmakers to provide it with the sustainabl­e 21st-century funding it requires.

The program and operating income that Joseph’s House receives through NYSSHP covers just 71 percent of our costs, with more than three-quarters of that aid going to support our workforce.

 ?? Photo Illustrati­on by Tyswan Stewart / Times Union ??
Photo Illustrati­on by Tyswan Stewart / Times Union

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