About 39,000 supportive housing units help New Yorkers live fuller lives and participate more meaningfully in the many opportunities the city offers. The Supportive Preservation Program is a new initiative to protect the existence of those units.
What Is Supportive Housing?
The idea of supportive housing is straightforward: affordable housing with supportive services in place for residents struggling with homelessness or risk of homelessness. Supportive housing seeks to address underlying issues that can contribute to homelessness. These can include mental health issues, substance issues, disabilities, or domestic violence.
Supportive services can include access to mental health practitioners, support groups, financial counselors, literacy and educational services, and food assistance. These services are generally provided either on-site or through off-site visits coordinated for residents.
What Are the Types of Supportive Housing?
In New York City, there are two main types of supportive housing: congregate and scattered-site.
Congregate supportive housing refers to multiple units within an affordable multi-family housing development. An affordable housing development can include a percentage of supportive housing, or the entire development can be supportive.
Scattered-site supportive housing refers to one-off units inside a multi-unit building. These are typically implemented by private landlords.
What Does the Supportive Preservation Program Do?
The Supportive Preservation Program (SPP) provides financial aid to for-profit and non-profit owners to allow supportive housing developments to continue to operate.
Financial assistance provided by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) can include:
- 40-year or 60-year tax exemptions
- Low-interest loans and tax exemptions to help properties that can’t use private debt as a financing vehicle
- Gap funding, so long as permanent financing from other sources is in place
- Extensions or modifications of existing HPD-issued mortgages
Why Is the Supportive Preservation Program Needed?
The Supportive Preservation Program is needed because developing and maintaining supportive housing is more costly than other types of housing. Coordination with qualified social service providers and third-party service payors like Medicare, operational logistics, and specialized design to ensure multiple types of accessibility can cause developers to shy away from supportive projects.
This program focuses on offsetting the costs (cash and time) through tax relief, gap funding, and mortgage assistance.
How Do Supportive Housing Project Sponsors and Owners Apply for the Program?
Sponsors and owners interested in applying for the Supportive Preservation Program should submit a NYC HPD Preservation Finance Expression of Interest form. An HPD representative will review the submission and contact applicants with the next steps.
