About Homelessness
Poverty and Homelessness
Who lives in poverty in NYC?
1 in 5 NYC Residents
1 in 3 Family Households with One Adult
*Most recent data available is for 2016 (published in April 2018) – report here
Who is homeless in NYC?
In Shelter:
61,000 People
15,000 Families
22,000 Children
*These numbers underestimate the total number of New Yorkers experiencing homelessness, as they do not include people who are unsheltered or living on the street
The number of New Yorkers sleeping in homeless shelters is
76% higher than
10 years ago.
Homelessness is not an identity marker; it is a temporary economic circumstance that hundreds of thousands of New York families have experienced because their incomes do not keep pace with the rising cost of housing in our city. When a family that is already working hard and struggling to make ends meet is faced with a rent increase, domestic violence, illness, or an unexpected emergency, they are often left on the brink of disaster. It leaves them with no other option left than to live on the streets or in the shelter system.
We intervene to keep people in their homes and out of homelessness. You can help.
Here’s how:
Join The Partner For Home Campaign
Connect your home to the home of a fellow New Yorker at risk of homelessness. Donate the value of one month’s rent or mortgage over a 12 month period—like paying a 13th month of rent—so your neighbor can remain in her home, a child can remain in their neighborhood school, a family can remain in their community. Your monthly donation equals the value of 2.5 days (or 8%) of your monthly payment.
Your donation does so much more! When The Partnership provides financial assistance, we partner with corporate volunteers to provide economic empowerment: including financial advice, budgeting, and planning. Join the campaign today and make someone’s month!
Mission
The Partnership for the Homeless is committed to building a just and equitable society and creating lasting community change through solution-oriented programs and policy initiatives that will eliminate the root causes of homelessness.
Prevention. Intervention. Support.
Vision
We are striving to create a world where housing is embraced as a human right.
The Partnership for the Homeless has always based its work on the core belief that homelessness is an unacceptable and preventable part of the urban landscape. Founded nearly three decades ago to provide emergency shelter through public-private partnerships, our work has evolved over the years to include an array of prevention services for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness, at risk for homelessness, or who are rebuilding their lives after leaving shelters.
Our “home in the community” two-pronged strategy provides crisis services for New Yorkers facing
eviction, fleeing violence or leaving shelters, and, once safely housed, provides wraparound services and community integration to help ensure long-term housing stability.
Our Work
The Partnership serves people throughout the five boroughs. The Partnership seeks to solve homelessness by preventing it with robust programming for New Yorkers at-risk of or experiencing homelessness — now and for future generations. Our work is putting the building blocks in place to address immediate housing needs, create stability through important health interventions, disrupt generational homelessness and change the public narrative about homelessness.
Our Services Include:
Homelessness prevention is our key guiding principle and informs the work we do every day. Safe and stable housing is an absolute prerequisite for rebuilding one’s life. Our housing services include:
- Offer financial assistance and landlord mediation to prevent the immediate loss of home and prevent future homelessness
- Provide legal referrals
- Support housing placement with vouchers, and a bank of available affordable apartments
- Employment training and benefits screening
- Connect to income support services offered at government offices and community partners
Prevent people from cycling in and out of the crisis that can lead to homelessness via the provision of basic health and well-being services and appropriate referrals
- Connect low-income New Yorkers to therapeutic services
- Provide classical clinical support alongside emotional
well-being training - Apply a trauma-informed lens across services to identify trauma symptoms in clients
- Referrals for primary care and long-term mental-health services
- Provide emergency food via partnership with FEMA and local soup kitchens/food pantries
Disrupt the generational cycle of homelessness by ensuring children in shelters, or at risk of homelessness, have continuous access to school and adults have access to financial training
- Provide financial education trainings through our corporate partners
- Offer tenants’ rights/responsibilities workshops
- Advocate to keep children in school and placed in shelters near their schools
- Connect children to volunteer tutors to keep them on track at school
Work in partnership to change the public narrative about homelessness and create stronger linkages between clients and community supports
- Engage clients as organizational advisors via quarterly Client Council meetings
- Lead cross-sector public education campaigns to develop new narratives about homelessness that illuminate those most at-risk: women and children, LGBTQIA+, people living with disabilities, older adults, etc.
- Establish strategic alliances with shelters, service providers and medical establishments to ensure clients receive employment support and long-term care beyond The Partnership
A Real Impact
The support you give to help us reach our goal, really does make a difference. Check out Mallory’s story below
Mallory’s 17-Month-Old Daughter Saved Her Life.
While undergoing routine medical tests during her pregnancy, doctors discovered Mallory had thyroid cancer and began treatment immediately. Tending to her health, and recovering from treatment, didn’t allow for Mallory to continue
Tragically, while Mallory healed, her husband was in a car crash and suffered a spinal injury. He too was now physically unable to work.
Medical bills mounted. Rent increased. Mallory fell behind on payments.
She went to eviction court. They lost their apartment.
Mallory and her family moved into shelter.
Immediately, Mallory and her husband began looking for affordable places to live. Navigating NYC’s complex housing market isn’t easy and is exponentially more difficult when trying to use a housing voucher.
At this point, Mallory reached out to the Partnership. Working with our Housing team, Mallory discovered that what she was experiencing was called Source of Income Discrimination – and it is illegal. Mallory learned what questions to ask when calling about an apartment, how to record what realtors and landlords said, and which legal tools are available to her to fight back.
It wasn’t easy but Mallory is an action-oriented woman and she quickly and effectively became her own advocate. With the resources and support of the Partnership, she found the perfect apartment for her family.
Tonight, she will watch her daughter run down the hallway of their apartment, she’ll lie in her bed and relax, and before drifting off to sleep, get one more moment to rejoice in her blessings.
Who We Are
Board of Directors
Andrew Crawford
Managing Director
General Atlantic
Beth Shinn
Professor, Department of Humanties & Organizational Development
Peabody College, Vanderbilt University
David J. Woll
Partner
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Jennifer Cohan
President, NY
Edelman
Jennifer Mantini
Partner
Transaction Services
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Jeremy Feigelson (Chair)
Partner
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Áine Duggan
President and CEO
The Partnership For The Homeless
Staff
Áine Duggan
President & CEO
Edgar Vanegas
Maintenance
Mary Fridley
Interim Community Partnerships Manager
Camille Williams
Development Assistant
Marcy Mirkin
Human Resources
Davis Garner
Maintenance
NCheng
Finance
Gail Cooper
Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer
Madelyn Chapman
Chief of Staff
Roxanne Henry
Senior Director of Programs & Clinical Services
Jordan Saliby
Communications Assistant
Volunteers and Interns
Geminique O'Meally
Intern
Emeriti
Arnold S. Cohen
President and CEO
Donald H. Layton
Board of Directors (Chair)