The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene awarded more than $10 million to two housing and human services providers to expand the city’s network of supportive housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
The contracts, awarded to Midtown West-based Urban Pathways and Flatiron-based Phipps Neighborhoods, two nonprofits that provide services like housing and health care to unhoused New Yorkers, total $10.3 million, according to the City Record. The city did not respond to questions about the number of beds or units by presstime.
The latest contract awards are part of an effort to expand the number of supportive housing units citywide, which began under Mayor Bill de Blasio and has faltered in recent years amid a crushing housing market and affordability crisis.
Unlike typical affordable housing programs, supportive housing offers a variety of on-site services to people at risk of homelessness or experiencing mental illness intended to ameliorate the factors that can lead to relapse, decompensation and chronic homelessness. The programs typically give residents access to tailored services like medical and mental health care, job training and skill-building.
The latest awards come in the aftermath of a precipitous drop in the pace of supportive housing development. In the first four months of the fiscal year, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development started construction on only 25 supportive housing units for unhoused New Yorkers, a 90% decline compared to the same period the prior year, according to the Mayor’s Management Report. In May, Politico reported the city had completed fewer than 4,000 of the 15,000-unit goal, two years after Adams moved-up the projected timeline to 2028.
More than half of the latest tranche of funding — $6.1 million — will go to Urban Pathways to provide services for roughly 40% of the more than 300 units being developed at Marcus Garvey Village in Harlem, according to spokesperson Marta Goldman. Construction on a new 100% affordable, 18-story tower in the Marcus Garvey Village complex broke ground last June and is expected to open doors this winter, developers Carthage Real Estate Advisors and Body Lawson Associates Architects and Planners said last year. Urban Pathways currently holds $24.8 million in city contracts for similar services, mostly through the Department of Homeless Services, according to records kept by the city comptroller’s office.
The Phipps Neighborhoods award — roughly $4.2 million — is a renewal of an existing contract. The organization currently has $58.9 million in active contracts with the city, $25.6 million of which are through the Health Department, according to the comptroller’s records.
Urban Pathways, founded in 1975, provides a range of outreach and residential services for people who are homeless or who are experiencing homelessness, including over 700 people served in supportive housing in 2023. Urban Pathways’ revenue totaled $40.2 million, according to its tax filing for the period ending June 2022.
Phipps Neighborhoods, founded in 1972 as the social service arm of Phipps Housing, provides workforce, education, and residential services to over 14,000 individuals and families living in the South Bronx.
Phipps Neighborhoods did not return requests for comment.
Ethan Geringer-Sameth , 2024-06-20 11:33:04
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