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June 2008 Highlights
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Beginning in January of this year, Community Housing Innovations quietly began a new initiative with Nassau County to remove families from so-called “welfare motels.” Department of Social Services Commissioner John Imhof declared a goal of stopping use of the motels by the end of the year. CHI started by establishing an office with case management at a motel in Island Park with 40 rooms filled with families and single adults. The agency confronted issues of drug abuse, bedbugs, cockroaches, and criminal activity. It immediately began bringing the facility under control, making sure children were safe and in school, setting curfews, removing weapons, and assessing the families’ needs. In March CHI opened its first Nassau County Supervised Family Residence, in which 27 people were removed from the motel into a brand new house in a good neighborhood with 24-hour staffing. Two months later, the agency opened a second Residence in another part of the county, accepting 20 more people. CHI is using a holistic approach to providing homeless families with the services they need to succeed. Dubbed “Home First,” the program begins with an orientation video that sets a new tone to instill the possibility of success.
In just a few months of operation, nine families and three single adults have already been relocated to permanent housing and others referred to jobs or entitlements that will help them find permanent housing.
A new DVD library operated by Case Managers in each of the Supervised Family Residences in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties will begin next week. For the first time, it gives families a convenient resource to confront their issues. Some of the DVD’s offered will include:
CHI grant recipient Lashawn Harvey is selling her co-op.
CHI joins Mayor and Deputy County Executive
CHI Career Services Teacher Tanya McCormick featured on News 12
Houses Available from CHI Realty Click Here for houses available for sale through CHI Realty or sign up to work with our agent and search properties on the Multiple Listing Service. This is a buyer’s market!
In the last issue, we told the story of “Joe,” a homeless resident of our facility in Poughkeepsie. We related how he needed just $65 for his permit test and the 5-hour pre-licensing course of $38.00 for a total of $103 to be able to get a job. Thanks to an anonymous donor, CHI was able to pay for Joe to take his driving test, which he passed, and he has just completed the pre-licensing course. Joe is already going out on interviews for employment and has found a rooming house rental he can afford. If you would like to donate to people with an urgent need to become self-sufficient, send your tax-deductible contribution to: Community Housing Innovations, Inc., 190 East Post Road, White Plains, NY 10601.
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Lashawn Harvey bought her co-op in White Plains five years ago with $20,000 in down payment assistance from CHI. Although she must pay most of it back, she’s very happy. 
Tanya McCormick, who took the 8-week course at CHI Career Services three years ago, is now teaching it to help her students achieve the same dramatic change from welfare to work. 
