Inspired, strengthened and sustained by faith, the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing is committed to confronting the unconscionable and unacceptable reality of homelessness in New York City. Recognizing society's shared responsibility and working as partners with those who have experienced homelessness, the Assembly will mobilize communities of faith to empower all people, to advocate public policies to eliminate homelessness, and strive for the transformation of society.
Letter from the Executive Director
The Interfaith Assembly addresses the crisis of homelessness and the shortage of affordable housing in two ways. Through our empowerment programs we help those who have been homeless to recover from the trauma associated with their homelessness, and with our advocacy partners we work to “Build the Blessed City Together” and promote public policies that will – produce affordable housing; prevent homelessness, provide important services; and promote income and employment.On both these fronts, there has been much recent activity.
In the area of empowerment, in late 2007 the Assembly received a generous grant in memory of Andrew Stallman which has enabled us to assist three community partners in replicating the very effective life-skills program that we helped to establish in 1989 with New York Catholic Charities. These include "Break Through", established by Mercy Haven, Inc. in Sayville on Long Island; "Rebuilding Towards Manhood" organized by the First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica; and in partnership with Congregation Ansche Chesed and other upper west side congregations, the first Synagogue based program entitled Face to Face" ("Panim al Panim"). The Assembly also assisted St. Francis Xavier Church to re-activate its own Education-Outreach Program in downtown Manhattan.We are currently exploring the development of a number of other life-skills program sites as well as working with Fordham University in developing a project to document the long term effectiveness of this program model.
Renters Beware: You May Be On a Blacklist
By Eileen Markey
Published: Mar 2, 2010
2010 Annual Meeting
Join Institutional members and supporters of the Interfaith Assembly, members of the Governing Council, program graduates and friends for the…
Annual Meeting
of the
Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing
When: Thursday, March 18th, 2010
6pm to 8:15pm
Where: All Angels’ Church
HOUSING FIRST! COMMENTS: NYC’s REVISED NEW HOUSING MARKETPLACE PLAN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
As a result of the New Housing Marketplace Plan, New York’s affordable housing industry has undergone a renaissance and its narrative has been re-energized. This narrative, which dates back to Lindsay and Koch, tells the story of New York’s private-public investment partnership in affordable housing as a non-partisan, credit-worthy, and revenue-generating asset that creates hundreds of thousands of jobs by addressing the never-ending demand for hundreds of thousands of quality homes and apartments that the private market, acting on its own, cannot or will not serve. This narrative is especially valuable now because of affordable housing’s costeffectiveness in generating jobs, wages, and business income while the City and State are battling the current recession and searching for new growth sectors to transform local economies.
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As a short-term response to today’s tough financial times and the problems of foreclosures and over-mortgaged apartment buildings, the Revised New Housing Marketplace Plan (NHMP) is a pragmatic and reasonable strategy. And, achieving its 165,000-unit goal is a necessity. So, it is essential that the City obtains the resources – like, $400 million from Battery Park City’s Joint Purpose Fund – needed to achieve this goal.
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In executing the Revised NHMP, it is essential that the City focus on three priorities.
Because of record homelessness in the city,
NYT: City’s New Plan on Affordable Housing: Build Less, Preserve More
February 21, 2010
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