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 community partners in replicating the very effective life-skills program that we helped to establish in 1990 with New York Catholic Charities. These include "Coming Home", established in partnership with the Reformed Church of Bronxville, to assist men and women to re-enter society after incarceration; and "Panim El Panim", established by Congregation Ansche Chesed, with support from All Angels Church, the Collegiate Church Corporation and other congregation partners, and in 2011, "Living Well", to assist women who have become homeless as a result of domestic violence - with support from Presbyterian Women (Presbyterian Church USA), ConnectNYC, Middle Collegiate Church, the Collegiate Church Corporation, and others; and "Coming Home Brooklyn" in partnership with the Brooklyn DA's Office. In 2009, the Assembly also assisted St. Francis Xavier Church to re-activate its own Education-Outreach Program in downtown Manhattan. In addition we are working with Fordham University's Beck Institute to document the long term effectiveness of this program model.

In the area of public policy advocacy, we are working with Housing Here and Now, the Real Rent Reform Coalition and others in advocating for stronger rent regulations to help stem the loss of affordable housing - in particular, working for the repeal of Vacancy Decontrol which has resulted in the loss of an estimated 300,000 rent regulated apartments over the past 10 years.

We welcome your help and encourage the participation of your community in any or all of these efforts.

Please explore our website to see how you might work with the Interfaith Assembly to help those who have been homeless to get back on their feet and help to “Build the Blessed City Together.”