(MSCC) Sharon Jasprizza, June 21, 2021

OVERVIEW

During this meeting, we marked the progress of the House Our Neighbors with Dignity Act (HONDA) bill, Street Sheets Distribution, and more.

Time: 9:30 am-10:30 am on Zoom

Chairperson: Sharon Jasprizza 

WELCOME / INTRODUCTIONS

• John Mudd carried out introductions
• Sharon Jasprizza outlined housekeeping 

POLICY MEETING UPDATES

The prior 8:30 Homeless and Housing Policy meeting concentrated on housing vouchers; the need for ACCESS HRA to address housing vouchers and available housing real-time data on their website. The MSCC Health Report by The Colombia Consulting Practice was outlined. The report’s distribution was discussed. 

Action: John Mudd will send out Columbia Report prepared by The Colombia Consulting Practice and decide on a time for the Blockbuster movie night for MSCC Health Presentation

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Elizabeth McNierney,Program Director from ACE, spoke about her nonprofit workforce development programs:

• ACE is located in Long Island City. ACE provides services for people who are homeless or who have been homeless. ACE requires clients to have places to stay, but this is not always the case.
• Programs include 
  • Project Comeback: training, computer classes, industry certification, work experience, sanitation work people receive a stipend, individualized counseling
  • Adult Education Program: contextualized for the workplace, people graduate when they find full-time employment
  • Extended Care After Program:  outreach each month for the first two years, financial incentives of $50 each month for the presentation of pay stubs, educational opportunities, employment nights, and events to keep graduates engaged,
• Ratios clients to counselors have been reduced to one to one currently, and as a result, people are finding employment quicker (1 month). This new ratio has occurred because ACE is building capacity. Before the pandemic, it was one to six, which meant it took longer for people to find employment. 
• ACE provides ongoing and lifelong support for present and former clients in the form of social events, financial updates, educational opportunities 
• Employment is currently found in all industries such as food, security, building maintenance, etc.— “what matches experience,” as long as its full time permanent, healthy and sustainable
• ACE is focused on spreading the word and welcomes input
• Community Boards, centers who may benefit from these services please contact: emcnierney@acenewyork.org

Actions: John Mudd to send street sheets to Elizabeth McNierney. Elizabeth to give ACE postcards to John Mudd. Elizabeth to connect with Lieutenant Diaz from the shelter on 30^th Street

Community Building at 30^th Street Men’s Shelter

Lieutenant Robert Diaz R.DIAZ@dhs.nyc.gov and PO Jephte Perez kidace777@yahoo.com, Community Engagement Officers, outlined:

• The Community Relations Program focuses on involving Police Officers in community programs
• Please reach out to Lieutenant Diaz and PO Perez with community information, programs, and workshops available
• Clients from this shelter may be interested in joining our networks and meetings

Actions: John Mudd and Sharon Jasprizza to connect with PO Perez after the meeting to discuss possibilities of client engagement with meetings, documentary, and testimonials. 

BETH ISRAEL HOSPITAL

John Mudd spoke about the proposal for Adaptive Reuse: mentioned some of Beth Israel Hospital’s wings are closed and could be used as Medical Respite Bed facility. John referred to Arthur Schwartz’s work in keeping Beth Israel open as we entered into the pandemic.

ADAPTIVE REUSE OF COMMERCIAL SPACE

Ted Houghton, President, Gateway Housing, updated:

• A couple of months ago, the Governor signed an Executive Budget Proposal that proposed to override local zoning restrictions to allow Landlords to convert hotels and office buildings to permanent housing, as long as 20% of the units were affordable
• This proposal was killed during budget negotiations, but it did generate other proposals. One of which was to provide some regulatory relief to turn a couple of hotels into affordable housing without having to go through lengthy rezoning processes, or a lot of changes in building codes that would require a lot of construction. Another: provided $100 million for a hotel to housing conversions as long as they were 100% affordable, and if it focused on homeless and very low-income people 
• The $100 million was appropriated in the budget, but no parameters were set, so now there is a negotiation concerning the regulatory relief and how the $100 million will be spent. But still not clear if the assembly will do something with the same Bill. Both houses have to pass the Bill to be law. Two weeks left in the legislative session. Today we will have a better idea if the legislation is going forward. If it does go forward, we may get some regulatory relief to make it easier to convert hotels to housing. Right now, it is much easier to convert a hotel to shelter than it is to convert it to permanent housing. A better product  results if we convert to housing rather than shelters. Lots of stakeholders, supporting it. 
• Concerns about technical aspects of the Bill
• $100 million has been appropriated. Hopefully, it will be spent on some conversions. But if the law is not passed, there won’t be many guardrails around this $100 million.
• David Ward, Trinity Church, clarified the appropriated $100 million, and regulatory relief is in the HONDA (Housing our Neighbors with Dignity Act) Bill. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/s5257/amendment/a
• Ted explained the regulatory relief would allow hotels in light manufacturing districts, under certain circumstances, i.e., next to a residential area, 100% affordable housing, approved by HPD, to be converted into permanent housing. 
• The other part of the regulatory relief is around building codes. Hotels can be converted into housing but still obey the hotel codes where the rooms are smaller but have much more stringent safety requirements for example
• David Ward spoke about Trinity Wall Street discussions concerning the mechanism for the State to buy stressed properties. David Ward asked if it would be better for NFPs to buy them directly. Ted replied that the Bill does now include this. 
• Emily Bartosek, Community Liaison New York /State Assembly Member Linda B Rosenthal, spoke about Assembly Member Linda B Rosenthal’s support for the HONDA Bill.
• Luke Wolfe, Manhattan Borough Liaison Office Of New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, spoke about the Covid-19 Recovery Center, the one-stop shop for resources, an excellent resource to share. Luke Wolfe dropped this in the chatbox. 
• John Mudd asked Luke Wolfe if Scott Stringer would like to speak at our meetings. John Mudd wondered if there is a listing of lots, location of lots. Luke Wolfe will share data if this is possible. Luke Wolfe said many lots in Brooklyn and Queens, some in midtown. Each lot has its profile. 
• John Mudd asked Luke Wolfe if there was empty lot that cannot be used for housing but could be used for an urban farm; we would need a five years lease minimum
• View the May 13, 2021, Transforming Hotels to Housing Forum is at https://www.facebook.com/Midtownsouthnyc/videos/1202319366867631

UPDATE: NYS Senate and Assembly Passed the HONDA Hotel Conversion Bill on June 10, 2021. More at the July 6 meeting.

Actions

• Ted Houghton will follow up with the progression of the HONDA Bill
• Luke Wolfe: list of lots and location for housing or urban farm, share invite with Scott Stringer to join us at our meeting

STREET SHEETS

• John Mudd gave an overview of the resources and services
• Jen Mallicote spoke to the success of the Street Sheets. People are so grateful to get the information. A good idea to put together as part of a welcome package to shelters, it’s essential to get these out

PUBLIC CONCERNS

• John Mudd spoke about the high percentage of people with mental illness in jail
• Gerald Scupp, VP, Garment District Alliance, spoke about the rise in crime, especially against the Asian community; people are attracted to crime spots, shootings have increased but data not yet available to substantiate 

Actions: Gerald Scupp will follow up on supporting crime data 

SUMMARY OF ALL ACTIONS:

• Columbia Report prepared by The Colombia Consulting Practice and decide on a time for the Blockbuster movie night for MSCC Health Presentation
• John Mudd to send street sheets to Elizabeth McNierney. Elizabeth to give ACE postcards to John Mudd. Elizabeth to connect with Lieutenant Diaz from the shelter on 30^th Street
• John Mudd, Sharon Jasprizza, Jennifer Mallicote follow up with NYC Access for housing vouchers
• Follow up at next Policy Meeting about Community support for engaging people who are homeless
• John Mudd and Sharon Jasprizza to connect with PO Perez after the meeting to discuss possibilities of client engagement with meetings, documentary, and testimonials
• Luke Wolfe: list of lots and location for housing or urban farm, share invite with Scott Stringer to join us at our meeting.
  • Luke followup with: This link is to a  dataset of all government owned lots. We also conducted an  audit of HPD owned vacant lots in 2018, which shares some findings and recommendations
• Gerald Scupp will follow up on supporting crime data 

ANNOUNCEMENTS / EVENTS

• Aileen Reynolds, Executive Director of Housing Opportunity, NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) will speak about their new Housing Connect website for our July 6 Meeting
• Next Meeting: 9:30 am, Tuesday, July 6, 2021 (The first Tuesday of every month) Policy Recap

(Sub-committee of Homeless & Housing Committee) 

Date: 8.30am – 9.30am Tuesday June 1, 2021 Zoom

Chair and Minutes: Sharon Jasprizza

WELCOME

John Mudd carried out introductions and outlined the agenda.

COMMITTEE’S PURPOSE

Review policies and their oversight, determine and suggest action to lobby for change!

OBTAINING HOUSING USING VOUCHERS

• Charisma White’s Housing Voucher issues were discussed
• Jen highlighted the fact that there is no information on ACCESS HRA for housing vouchers. It was recommended that the following be added: 
  • Applying for vouchers
  • How to use housing vouchers in real-time by inserting zip code to find buildings that are accepting vouchers
• Mapping the pathway to the housing using vouchers using PowerPoint or similar was discussed. A team is being put together for this to happen.
• Jennifer Mallicote raised issues of inferior technology and communication between inter-and intra-agencies.

HEALTHCARE ACCESS & COORDINATION FOR NYC’S HOMELESS

Overview of the MSCC’s report, prepared by The Columbia Consulting Practice, was outlined by John Mudd. Links for work follow: 

• full report: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oUxQiPZAf0oz1l2QgT6dKoRMxV6VP3dT/view?usp=sharing (This link is not for publication at this time, 
• PowerPoint: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SZxdgNDyCnhGiWN308F91X4FcEPVrnla/view?usp=sharing (This link is not for publication at this time) 
• Zoom Presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JsF2jQofwyXopyNCEFSrcXi3yfuIUh21/view?usp=sharing (This link is not for publication at this time)
• The discussion involved the silo effects of the various and non-integrated communication systems in New York and the need for high-tech and integrated approaches to ensure efficiency and clear communication between agencies. There was no discussion of direction to be taken for this issue at the meeting
• A strategy was put forward to support community volunteers to undertake two-week training to update knowledge and understanding of social services available and point people in need on the streets. The rationale provided centered on people’s passions and relationships with those in need who don’t know to help and help appropriately while keeping themselves and others safe.
• Discussion of sending report to all community members and holding a special zoom meeting to screen the video.

AOB

Next Policy Meeting: July 6, 2021, 8:30 to 9:30 am, before the Homeless and Housing Committee Meeting