Real Supportive Housing Need in New York State

This Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) report, supported by NYHealth, is the first-of-its-kind assessment of supportive housing in eight communities across seven geographic areas of New York State, including New York City.

Supportive housing is a proven intervention offering vulnerable individuals and families access to affordable housing and services to help them overcome complex challenges such as homelessness, mental illness, physical disabilities, substance use, and often times a combination of all these factors. Although New York State has invested in supportive housing to improve the lives of New Yorkers, there is not enough supply to meet the need. Efforts to increase access to safe and affordable care could be greatly enhanced if driven by better data on statewide and regional need.

For this report, eight communities were selected for a needs assessment, accounting for nearly 95% of the State’s total homeless population in 2013. The goal is to better use existing data to understand where the greatest concentration of supportive housing needs are in the State and assist policymakers in efficiently allocating supportive housing resources to New Yorkers struggling with, or at risk of, homelessness.