Strycker’s Bay’s Eviction Prevention Program and Helpline Overwhelmed with Requests for Help

Did you know?

New York City's Homeless Shelter Population 1990-2010 has steadily increased over the past twenty years:

Total number of homeless people in municipal shelters: October 1990 19,877

Total number of homeless people in municipal shelters: October 2000 24,537

Total number of homeless people in municipal shelters: October 2010 37,987

and

According to Testimony given at the Rent Guidelines Board Hearing by Community Service Society’s Victor Bach and Tom Waters in April 2010: 

…“The RGB 2010 Income and Affordability Study does a thorough job of updating some of the key indicators of economic stress and housing hardship in New York City from 2008 to 2009. It presents an unmitigated picture of mounting stresses for New Yorkers across the city:

·         NYC jobs lost 106,800 (2.8% decrease since 2008)

·         Average Unemployment Rate 9.4% in 2009, compared to 5.4 % in 2008

·         Inflation-Adjusted Wages Decrease of 3.4 % since 2008

·         Homeless Shelter Census Average 35,915, 7% increase since 2008.

·         First-Time Homeless Clients 17.0 increase since 2008

·         Non-Payment Housing Court Filings 2.3 increase since 2008

·         Evictions 7.5 % increase since 2008 .”..

Even at a time when our state funding has been cut by $30,000, our Eviction Prevention Program and Helpline has experienced an overwhelming increase in requests for assistance. During the last 30 days we have received more than 70 requests for assistance and are now managing more than 30 eviction cases. We work with each tenant until there is no longer a threat of eviction. Cases can take anywhere between two weeks to two months to resolve.

Janice Bethea, our lead Eviction Prevention Counselor and Gerry Peralta a Housing Intern from Hunter College have been diligently working with families and individuals to stop their eviction. The people they are working with have found themselves in a position that has upset the stability of their households and has placed them in a frightening situation. Janice and Gerry do all they can to connect them to the resources that will help bring stability back in to their lives.

But I will admit here that we struggle to keep up with the request as we find ourselves having to relocate our office space that will cost more than twice the rent we pay now in addition to moving and repair expenses. More about our move in a later post

It’s a tough time for all right now, but with support from volunteers, contributors and our strategic partners we will get through this difficult period.

If you, your friends and family are considering year end contributions, please consider giving to Strycker’s Bay. We are also in need of some immediate in-kind contributions of items such as:

Paint
Primer

Paint Rollers, Brushes and Pan
Cleaning Supplies

Volunteers to Help Clean, Paint and Move

Also please look out for other opportunities to contribute and get involved with Strycker’s Bay through individual and corporate sponsorship of our upcoming fundraising “New York City: Through My Eyes” a photographic exhibit by neighborhood and NYC photographers scheduled to take place in April 2011 and an event – Community Matters -- we have planned for January 20, 2011 I will share more about the both next week.

Until the next post….

Kelley

Yep, We're Still Here -- Alive and Kicking ...and Fighting Too!

I feel terribly guilty for not posting to Neighborhood Commons for more than two weeks. I started this blog as a way to keep the community informed of and connected to the goings on here at Strycker’s Bay. I knew it was a huge undertaking when I started and I/we are committed to keeping this blog open and flowing with “All the news that’s fit to print”…at least as it relates to all matters Strycker’s Bay (smile).

Now with that apology out of the way and the heavy weight of my guilt lifted, let me tell you what has kept this blog silent over the past few weeks.

Well first of all as I reported here last month, we are being evicted by the five unit low-income HDFC on West 87^th Street.  We secured renovation funds for this building (and a dozen others) and helped obtain its annual tax abatement of more than $60,000 reducing their yearly tax bill to just over $5,000 per year. 

We are scrambling to represent ourselves in court since they broke their promise to allow us to remain in our space until December 31, 2010 with no rent payments. I was in Housing Court on Friday November 5^th and had to deal with the HDFC’s horrible and heartless attorney. I am afraid this is going to get ugly.

We have secured office space at the DOME Project offices located at 486 Amsterdam Avenue. We have been developing a strategic partnership with The DOME that we believe will help both organizations increase their capacity to serve the community. We are looking forward to becoming office mates.

We will also have a satellite office space located at 72 West 109^th Street. We are very excited that we will be able to offer easy access to our programs to the residents in the Manhattan Valley community.

So far we have Strycker’s Bay facing eviction, going to court, developing strategic partnerships, moving and trying to find an interested reporter to investigate the sale of HDFC units for hundreds of thousands of dollars while they benefit from generous tax abatements designed to keep the buildings affordable to low-income people. Whew!

Oh wait there’s more. We have an event planned for January 20, 2010 to be hosted by City Council Member Gale Brewer at her home. It a community networking event and information sharing opportunity for West Side organizations, associations, residents, leaders and elected officials. The theme “Community Matters” will offer an opportunity for West Sider’s to connect and exchange information about their organization and community matters of interest to them.

We will also recognize three teens for their leadership and work in the community. The 2010 Doris Rosenblum Youth Leadership Awards will be presented at the Community Matters event as well. We have some awesome young people doing great things and we can’t wait to share their stories with you.

There is so much more we have going on, but I have to keep this post short. However, I will be posting more information about the many new and exciting things going on at Strycker’s Bay. Just in case you were wondering, no we have not received any new grants to manage all the activity buzzing around “The Bay”. We are fighters and resourceful fighters at that. The fighting spirit of those who led Strycker’s Bay before us, Father Harry Brown, Doris Rosenblum, Sondra Thomas, Bob Shur, Louise Singleton, and many more still continue to live on in every staff member, board member and volunteer. 

However, please take note, we are still looking for financial resources to replace the $55,000 in funding we recently lost – please do not hesitate to send any leads or ideas our way (wink).

Until the next post…

Kelley