Alliance Note: Governor Hochul’s administration has announced $359 million will go towards creating over 300 new supportive housing units in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Stable housing is essential to recovery and far more effective than involuntary removals and forced hospitalization. These new units are much needed, and we commend the Governor’s continued efforts to create affordable housing with supports for people experiencing mental health, substance use, and trauma related challenges. We will continue to advocate for more funding for low barrier housing, with fidelity to the Housing First model, so more New Yorkers experiencing homelessness can access needed housing and begin focusing on their recovery if they are also experiencing mental health, substance use, or trauma related challenges. Read below for more information.
Hochul Allots $359M for Supportive Housing Projects
By Jacqueline Neber | Crain’s Health Pulse | April 10, 2024
Gov. Kathy Hochul has earmarked $359 million to establish and expand supportive housing options for New Yorkers, she announced Tuesday.
Supportive housing developments help tenants access primary and behavioral health care and ensure they attend appointments. The case management services are often carried out by nonprofits. The state financing, a mix of bonds and subsidies, will create a total of 329 supportive housing units in Brooklyn and the Bronx across four development projects.
One project will create 115 affordable homes in the Mount Hope neighborhood in the Bronx, including 69 supportive units for homeless New Yorkers with mental illness and substance use disorder, for $54 million. Yonkers-based nonprofit Westhab will connect the supportive unit tenants to community mental health providers and offer employment counseling, according to its chief executive Richard Nightingale.
The state will invest $83 million in a similar development in Brownsville, where L+M Development Partners will construct a new building on the campus of the existing Marcus Garvey Apartments. The campus currently offers 52 supportive units for formerly incarcerated New Yorkers, and the project will add 88 with services provided by South Bronx-based nonprofit the Osborne Association.
Christina Green, Osborne’s supportive housing director, told Crain’s staff will connect tenants 50 and older to primary and behavioral health care, employment support and financial literacy classes. The association and the developer decided to expand services for individuals in that age group to meet growing demand, she said. By 2030, about one-third of people incarcerated in the state will be 50 or older. L+M Development aims to break ground on the new Marcus Garvey apartments in May and complete them by December 2026, Green added.
Beyond the Mount Hope and Brownsville projects, the state will invest $170 million to build 385 affordable units in East New York, including 94 supportive apartments for families experiencing homelessness. Additionally, developers The Jericho Project and Procida Development Group will receive $52 million to build 129 units in the Melrose section of the Bronx. The project will include 78 supportive units for homeless youth and adults and 42,000 square-feet of community space where case managers can work with tenants.
Hochul announced the funding as part of a total $412 million she has dedicated to six affordable housing projects. The financing is part of her $25 billion housing plan which aims to create or preserve 100,000 affordable homes across the state, including 10,000 supportive units.