Monarch Housing’s Blog!

Save the Date for the 10th Annual Conference on Supportive Housing
Celebrate 10 Years of Success with us on December 5, 2008!

Come celebrate 10 years of success on December 5, 2008 at the 10th Annual Conference on Supportive Housing “Bringing It Back Home”

Hosted by the Corporation for Supportive Housing and the Supportive Housing Association of New Jersey.

When: December 5, 2008
Where: The Pines Manor in Edison, NJ
For directions click here.

Please click here for more details, or contact CSH NJ at (609)392-7820.

On June 6, 2008, The Stratford, which will provide permanent supportive housing for special needs and homeless families, held their Grand Opening. In the photo on the right, Mayor Cory Booker of Newark cut the ribbon along with Reverend J. Carr Holland, III and Mike Meyer, the Director of Housing and Real Estate for the City of Newark, and a family that will call The Stratford home. The project will have a total of nine units, three 3 bedroom units and six 2 bedroom units. The Stratford has received project based SRAP funds and the primary funding sources were Low Income Housing Tax Credits, City of Newark Home, HUD Continuum of Care Funding and Federal Home Loan funding. Episcopal Community Development was the developer, for The Apostles’ House, which will “own” and operate the facility.

The comments from Mayor Booker on this historic project underscored the importance that his administration has placed on ending homelessness in Newark. To listen to his comments use the link below or click here.

 The Stratford Opening [3:00m]: Download

These are some of twenty (20) photos from the grand opening.

You can click on any photo to see it full size or click here to view all of the photos. To save a photo right click on the photo.

To view a slide show click here.

All of the photographs were taken by Eucabeth Williams [Email address: ewilliams #AT# monarchhousing.org - replace #AT# with @ ] and Naemah Sarmad [Email address: nsarmad #AT# monarchhousing.org - replace #AT# with @ ].

Since April 10, 2008, we have posted several articles about the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2008 (HR 5772). This is a program worth saving and the proposed legislation will ensure its continued success. Our friends at The Technical Assistance Collaborative has released a Power Point presentation highlighting the key aspects of the modernized Section 811 program.

To view the PowerPoint as a PDF file click here.

To view it as a PowerPoint click here.

Section 811 is a critically important federal program that assists the lowest income people with serious and long-term disabilities to live independently in the community by providing integrated affordable rental housing linked with voluntary services and supports.

Among other changes the reform legislation will:

Authorizing a new Section 811 Demonstration Program that fulfills the promise of true community integration as envisioned in the Americans with Disabilities Act;

Enacting long over-due reforms and improvements to the existing Section 811 production program essential for the program’s long-term viability.

For more information on this important legislation:

Click here to read Opening Doors on Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2008 in PDF or here to read it online.

Read the rest of this entry »

We were pleased to hear from our friend Sandy Accomando of Apostles’ House about the grand opening of The Stratford which will provide permanent supportive housing for special needs and homeless families. The project will have a total of nine units, three 3 bedroom units and six 2 bedroom units. According to Sandy, The Stratford has received project based SRAP funds. The primary funding sources were Low Income Housing Tax Credits, City of Newark Home funds, HUD Continuum of Care Funding and Federal Home Loan funding. Episcopal Community Development was the developer, for The Apostles’ House, which will “own” and operate the facility. We encourage our readers to attend this important event that will be held on June 6, 2008 between 11 PM and 2 PM at The Stratford, 500-512 Avon Avenue, Newark, NJ. Mayor Cory Booker will officially cut the ribbon at 1 PM. To RSVP call (973) 430-9986. To view the full invitation click here.

We found this story on Camden’s suburb across the Delaware River announcement of an increased effort to end homelessness of interest. As the Philadelphia Inquirer described it “teaming to battle homelessness, the city and the Philadelphia Housing Authority will begin providing 700 housing units and beds for homeless people, Mayor Nutter announced yesterday.” The size and scope of the plan along with its partnership with the Housing Authority make it not only newsworthy but a plan that we should watch closely. To end homelessness takes a united effort and what works in Philadelphia may be applicable to New Jersey.

To read the Philadelphia Inquirer article click here.

The highlights according to the article are:

To deal with the growing numbers, the Nutter-PHA plan calls for 500 PHA housing units to be given over to the homeless - 300 for families and 200 for individuals.

There’s no additional cost to PHA, spokesman Kirk Dorn said. The units will simply be designated for the mayor’s program, he added. Part of the $8.3 million cost will fund support services for people placed in the PHA units.

Although there is a 48,000-person waiting list for PHA housing, PHA does have the right to use the units “to tackle this crisis,” Dorn said.

He added that PHA is compelled to ask, “Where is the need the greatest?” Although people on the list are mostly the working poor and in genuine need, “they probably have some kind of housing already.”

The city’s contribution includes 200 units and beds. They consist of 125 units of “permanent supportive housing” - that is, a combination of housing and services to help people. Units would be added in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The city will also be funding 50 “safe-haven” beds in various residential-treatment facilities for homeless people with acute addiction and behavioral-health problems. The city also has committed to providing an additional 25 beds, which could be used either for safe-haven beds or supportive housing.

To read the Philadelphia Inquirer article click here.

We wanted to help answer this important question. With new reform legislation pending in Congress - Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2008 - this is a question that needs to be answered. Over the last month we have posted several articles about the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2008 (HR 5772). This is a program worth saving and the proposed legislation will ensure its continued success.
For a more detailed answer we reprint Ann O’Hara’s answer in Opening Doors.

Some federal officials have asked “Why save Section 811? There are other HUD programs that can create permanent supportive housing.” The reasons to save the Section 811 program are clear and compelling. Most importantly, Section 811 is the only federal program solely dedicated to addressing the housing crisis facing millions of extremely low-income people with significant and long-term disabilities who also need access to services and supports to live successfully in the community. In addition, Section 811 is one of the very few remaining HUD programs that can provide the essential project-based rent subsidy needed to ensure that rents in new permanent supportive housing units are affordable for the most vulnerable people with disabilities with the lowest incomes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Advocacy, Andrew Sperling, CCD, Christopher Murphy, Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act, Judy Biggert, Liz Savage, permanent supportive housing, Supportive Housing

Over the last month we have posted several articles about the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2008 (HR 5772). This is a program worth saving and the proposed legislation will ensure its continued success. We are pleased to share the current issue of Opening Doors that provides information on this important issue. Click here to read our previous posts. Click here to read Opening Doors in PDF or here to read it online.

In addition to reading this blog, to ensure that you receive regular Action Alerts on this important legislation, please contact the following individuals: Andrew Sperling [Email address: andrew #AT# nami.org - replace #AT# with @ ], National Alliance on Mental Illness or Liz Savage [Email address: savage #AT# thearc.org - replace #AT# with @ ], The ARC of the United States.

The following is the first few paragraphs of this important issue of Opening Doors.

The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force (CCD Housing Task Force) and the Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc. (TAC) are pleased to announce that on April 10, 2008, Representatives Christopher Murphy (D-CT) and Judy Biggert (R-IL) jointly introduced groundbreaking permanent supportive housing legislation - the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2008 (HR 5772) - in the U.S. House of Representatives. This critically important legislation will help address the enormous and unrelenting housing crisis faced by millions of extremely low-income people with disabilities and will spur the creation of thousands more new 811 units every year by:

Authorizing a new Section 811 Demonstration Program that fulfills the promise of true community integration as envisioned in the Americans with Disabilities Act; and

Enacting long overdue reforms and improvements to the existing Section 811 production program essential for the program’s long-term viability.

Historically, the Section 811 program has been one of the most successful programs available through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to create new supportive housing units. However, the future of Section 811 is being jeopardized by an outdated statute and program models, excessive HUD bureaucracy, and rapidly declining production levels.

For the fourth year in a row, HUD has proposed drastic budget cuts for the Section 811 Read the rest of this entry »