Care For the Homeless

We are constantly inspired by the stories of real life heroes who have overcome obstacles in the fight against unstable housing. CFH is holding its sixth annual “Stories of Success” writing contest and we are looking for a 300-word story about success in overcoming a health challenge, in finding and maintaining stable housing or in advocating for better policies to fight, prevent or end homelessness. Contestants may also submit an essay about what they think success would look and feel like.   If you have a story of success – or know someone who does – please consider submitting it into our contest. All entries must be submitted with the author’s name and contact information. Submissions may be e-mailed to policy@cfhnyc.org or can be mailed or delivered to Nathalie at, 30 E. 33rd Street, 5th floor, New York, NY, 10016 by Friday, May 31 st . One winner will be selected by Care for the Homeless, will receive a prize and be asked to read their winning story at the CFH Su...

Join us on Thursday, June 20 th , at Broadway Presbyterian, 601 West 114 th Street in Manhattan, as Care for the Homeless (CFH), in partnership with Broadway Community, Inc., holds its sixth annual Summer Solstice Success Celebration recognizing the “ success stories” of New Yorkers who have overcome incredible obstacles while experiencing homelessness. The celebration will start with a meal at 4:30 p.m. followed by the program at 5:30 p.m. The event will recognize the achievements of New Yorkers who have obtained and maintained stable housing, overcome health obstacles and had outstanding advocacy achievements in the campaign for better policies to fight, prevent and end homelessness. We will also recognize our incredible CFH providers who have worked with our clients to achieve success. Also, the winner of CFH’s annual Short Story of Success Essay Contest, will read their submission. Join us for a celebration recognizing the success of our friends and neighbors. The c...

One factor that has increased the number of people experiencing homelessness in New York City is the eviction of low-income tenants from their homes. Historically, a low-income tenant facing an eviction proceeding in Housing Court was at a serious disadvantage compared to their landlord because of one very important factor, landlords always had legal representation. To counter this imbalance, in 2017, NYC became the first city to adopt the Right to Counsel (RTC), also known as Local Law 136, that established a right to free legal counsel in eviction cases. This major step forward in protecting low income tenants came after many years of advocacy by dedicated organizations and individuals supporting the rights of tenants facing the potential loss of housing. RTC provides tenants with household incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, $50,200 annually for a family of four , with no cost access to attorneys. Legal representation for an individual facing an eviction ...

Building Relationships, Earning Trust What do the West Indies, an Armadillo, a Dove, and Care For the Homeless (CFH) have in common? If you guessed the small island nation of Grenada, you’d only be half right. The other half of the answer pertains to Granada native, Dr. Sherill Purcell, who recently celebrated her 28-year anniversary with CFH. Dr. Purcell came to the United States when she was 21 and settled with her family in Kings County, Brooklyn, NY. She completed undergrad at CUNY-Brooklyn and subsequently graduated from New Jersey Medical School in Newark, NJ. Her early years at CFH were spent at a family shelter in Brooklyn. Purcell now splits her time as a pediatrician between CFH’s Citadel Open Access Health Center in Queens, NY and her own private practice. Even now in 2019 though, after her long career in medicine, she’s still meaningfully influenced by her native roots; especially when it comes to working with underserved patient populations. Purcell commente...

Home Stability Support (HSS) Assembly-member Hevesi speaking at Homeless Persons' Memorial Day 2018   Assembly member Andrew Hevesi is continuing his fight in Albany to pass the Home Stability Support (HSS) Legislation, something that he spoke about at our 2018 Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. Care for the Homeless and our client leaders, have been advocating for this legislation to raise the housing subsidy available to New Yorkers receiving public assistance up to 85% of the average fair market rent established by the federal Department of Urban Development (HUD), for a community based on family size.  HSS is a statewide rent supplement for families and individuals who are eligible for public assistance benefits as well as for those facing eviction, homelessness, or loss of housing due to domestic violence or hazardous living conditions. There are currently 171,000 households in New York receiving the public assistance “shelter allowance”, but the...

Right at Home Brooklyn native Dr. Nickisha Berlus began her career as a provider with Care For the Homeless (CFH) on November 5 th , 2018. Since then, she’s been practicing at CFH’s Health Center at the Bushwick Family Residence in Brooklyn, NY. There she serves families and children who are mostly under-insured or uninsured. As much as she loves serving her community, family medical care wasn’t always Dr. Berlus’ first choice. “I initially went into medicine to go into surgery,” Dr. Berlus reminisced, “but when I was at Robert Wood Johnson in Camden, NJ, I did the Hot Clinic Health Outreach program.” The program was designed for medical students to follow patients who were similarly under-insured or uninsured, to the various emergency rooms 1  and specialty clinics   they would frequent. Dr. Berlus commented, “It was my patient at the Hot Clinic that deterred my original professional route. I was in my 4 th year of school, she was in her mid-50s, ...

Mark Woollett and Candace Clift are California natives – Mark hails from Orange, CA and Candace from the greater Sacramento area. But they met in Massachusetts, both acting in a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream . They moved to New York City in 2013, and as many artists who move here can attest, it can be hard to pay the bills while following your dreams. They keep their toes dipped firmly in the world of theatre by working at The Barrow Group Theatre Company and School, where Mark helps in finance and Candace works in school operations and teaches, in addition to several other jobs between them! Q.      How did you first learn about Care For the Homeless? A.      Mark heard an NPR story about a group in Boston that provides Medical care for the homeless and was inspired to see if a similar organization existed in New York City. A quick Google search brought him to Care For The Homeless, and he was impressed by its...

Spend the start of summer celebrating the successes of New Yorkers who have experienced homelessness at the second annual Summer Solstice Success Celebration on June 22 nd ! This year’s program will recognize the health care success of currently and formerly homelessness New Yorkers with presentation of awards to celebrate their achievements, live entertainment and a meal. During the program add your own health care success story to our 'Wall of Health Care Success" art display. The program is free and open to the public. For more information or to RSVP click the link here. We hope to see you there! Date: Monday, June 22 nd at 4:30 p.m. Location: Red Oaks Apts., 135 W. 106 th St., Manhattan (between Amsterdam & Columbus Ave.) Subway: 1, C or B to 103 rd Street RSVP here (optional)

Join Care for the Homeless and our Client Leaders on Monday, June 22 nd at 4:30 p.m. in celebrating the health care successes of homeless and formerly homeless New Yorkers. The 2 nd Annual CFH Summer Solstice Success Celebration will feature live entertainment, fun and the opportunity to recognize the successes of our clients and thank the providers who delivery high quality, client centered services every day. “So often people focus on the bad news coming out of the shelter system,” said David Broxton, a formerly homeless cancer survivor and Care for the Homeless client. “We want to put the focus on the successes of New Yorkers who have experienced homelessness - people do get back on their feet with the right services available to them.”   The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at the dining room and gardens at Red Oak Apartments, 135 W. 106 th Street in Manhattan, on Monday, June 22, at 4:30 p.m. In addition to celebrating health care stor...

 Left from bottom, Client Leader Gayle Dorsky, Staff members Dominiq Williams and Kim Dalve and Client Leader David Broxton at the Capitol  During last week’s National Health Care for the Homeless Conference in Washington D.C. Care for the Homeless’ clients and staff took to the Hill to advocate for the programs and policies that we know can help end homelessness. Throughout the three day conference a Care for the Homeless team made up of Client Leaders David Broxton and Gayle Dorsky and staff members Kim Dalve and Dominiq Williams visited with congressional representatives from all over New York State. “Even small cuts to SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) are really hurting people who rely on them.” Gayle told NY representatives. “Like many New Yorkers, I’ve had to go to food pantries more, but I have friends who don’t have the time to go to food pantries or get turned away from pantries that have limited resources.” In addition to advocatin...

by Jeff Foreman, Director of Policy The New York City budget process moves along with continuing signs of improving homeless policy in the Big Apple. Since the De Blasio administration and Homeless Services Commissioner Gilbert Taylor came to office 15 ½ months ago New York City has gone from no real tools to important programs designed to fight and prevent homelessness in the city. For example there was absolutely no subsidy or direct housing program to transition people from shelter to permanent housing in December, 2013. Today, with support of both the city administration and the City Council, there are 6 LINC (living in the Community) subsidy programs designed to subsidize that transition for over 5,000 households annually, and a targeted priority to move 750 families (the city actually exceeded that goal this fiscal year) into NYCHA public housing units that become available each year. Now the City Council has released its response to the Mayor’s preliminary budget submissi...

The New York Homeless Policy Forum 2015, cosponsored by Care for the Homeless and Baruch College, will feature NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and City Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Gilbert Taylor, as well as leading advocates, policy-makers and clients. We are pleased to announce the following program of panels. Register today! Scope, Scale and Overview of Homelessness in New York City Serving as an introduction to homelessness in NYC, this presentation will include analysis of how many people are homeless or at risk in New York City, the context of the current crisis, NYC’s “right to shelter” and unique issues of homelessness in NYC.   Stigmatization, Criminalization and Attacks On Homeless People This panel will explore how and why we stigmatize homeless people and how the everyday activities of low-income and people experiencing homelessness are effected by stigmatization. Delving into societal attitudes towards poor and marginalized ...

  Join Care for the Homeless and Baruch College for the 2015 New York Homeless Policy Forum, a day of panels addressing issues in homeless and housing policy in New York City. Leading advocates, policy-makers, service providers and clients of the shelter system will discuss topics such as issues facing children in the shelter system, experiences of living in the shelter system and the low-income affordable housing market. Featuring special guest City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Gilbert Taylor. Have questions? Please email policy@cfhnyc.org Register here .   When? Wednesday, April 8th from 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Where? Newman Library, Baruch College Room 750, 151 East 25th Street (bwtn 3rd Ave and Lexington Avenue) SUBWAY: N, Q, R (23rd Street) or 6 (23rd Street)       Please register to attend.    Light refreshmen...

To Save Human Service Programs for Homeless and Poor People Last week Care for the Homeless, and 2.100 other advocacy and provider organizations across the U.S., launched a campaign to fight “sequestration”, the automatic federal funding cuts threatening most human service programs in the coming federal budget. These cuts, set at 8.2% for most domestic discretionary spending, include cuts to health programs, housing assistance, child welfare programs, job training and on and on. Operating as NDD United (NDD stands for nondefense discretionary) this national effort contacted every U.S. Senator and House of Representatives member emphasizing the critical importance of these human service programs that serve our neediest neighbors, the harmful effects of budget cuts and the need for a strong domestic program as well as defense spending. The cuts an 8.2% reduction requires would be draconian. It would mean fewer people getting adequate medical care, less mental health care and...

In the midst of New York City’s blizzard emergency, of course the city’s Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) Count, scheduled for from about midnight until 4 a.m. on Tuesday, January 27, is postponed. Care for the Homeless and our dozen volunteer staff and client leaders signed up to participate will plan to take part in the reschedule HOPE Count when that takes place. The HOPE count is part of the national HUD point-in-time count of homelessness in the U.S. In fact, the point in time count originated in New York City in the 1990s and has taken place citywide on one night in January continuously since 1995.  It’s an important research and policy tool that Care for the Homeless supports and takes part in. In the meantime, the severe weather that challenges us all is another stark reminder of the need to prevent, ameliorate and work to end homelessness. Last year’s HOPE count indicated at least 3,357 homeless people were living unsheltered on the streets or in pu...

Care for the Homeless began the Speakers’ Bureau in September 2013 as a program to help homeless and formerly homeless New Yorkers tell their stories and advocate for changes in homeless policy in New York City.  From presentations at universities such as Pratt, John Jay and Mt. Saint Vincent in the Bronx, to elementary school classrooms, to advocacy events and city council hearings, our first class of ‘Certified Advocates’ have told their stories to a wide-variety of New Yorkers, sharing the message that we can end homelessness as we know it. This past weekend January 17th and 18th saw the second course of Speakers’ Bureau applicants, each a CFH client who has experienced homelessness in New York City,  improve their public speaking and learn about housing policies and advocacy techniques. The program is full of dedicated New Yorkers who want to take a part in calling community leaders to greater action in solving the homeless crisis. The class was taught by Jef...