Thursday, May 17, 2012

A Press Release Issued and Withdrawn

On May 15, this press release appeared on the Galvan Initiatives Foundation blog but was later removed. It was received by a Gossips reader in a Google Reader feed, and that reader send it along to Gossips. Now that the two proposals for homeless housing have reportedly been declared public documents, there seems to be no reason not to publish it.  

NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FROM: Galvan Foundation

GALVAN FOUNDATION PROPOSES DEVELOPMENT OF EMERGENCY AND
TRANSITIONAL HOUSING AT 7TH AND STATE STREETS
The Hudson Orphanage -- long-distressed and unoccupied building important to the City of Hudson’s architectural and social history to be converted into housing and services for Columbia County residents most in need

HUDSON, NY May 15, 2012 -- Galvan Foundation (GF) and Mental Health Association of Columbia Greene Counties (MHACG) are pleased to jointly propose the development of Civic Hudson Emergency and Transitional Housing (CHETH), an emergency (Tier I) and transitional (Tier II) housing facility. An application for funding to operate the facility is pending with Department of Social Services of Columbia County and is subject to their review approval.

CHETH, to be located at the corner of Seventh and State Streets in the City of Hudson, involves the conversion of the former Hudson Orphanage and a former car dealership garage by building a connecting building, into Tier I and Tier II housing facilities. GF is responsible for all activities related to the development and conversion of the facility. GF plans to establish Civic Hudson Emergency and Transitional Housing Corporation (CHETHC), a Hudson based nonprofit organization that will own and operate the facility run by a board comprised of Galvan, MHACG, and community representatives. CHETHC will enter in to a subcontract with MHACG for provision of an on-site supportive service program.

CHETH will provide 18 Tier I units and 15 Tier II units.  Tier I and Tier II units will be located in Building I and Building III, respectively, which will be connected by Building II, a wing containing social services space.  Building one will contain 18 units averaging 100 sq. ft., and each will have a bed and storage locker. Building III will contain 15 Tier II studio units averaging 350 sq. ft., and each unit will have a full kitchenette and bathroom as well as a living, dining, and sleeping space. Building II will serve as the main entrance for all three buildings. Building II will contain a security desk, offices for support staff, counseling rooms, group meeting room, recreational room/ dining area, and kitchen.

CHETHC will hire a live-in Resident Manager who will have oversight over maintenance, repairs, and security service staff. MHACG will operate an on-site comprehensive support services program that addresses the unique needs of each resident. A full-time Program Director and two full-time Case Workers will provide intake assessment, case management, health and mental health assessment and counseling, medication counseling and management, vocational and educational services, nutritional counseling and services, community integration skills, personal assistance, and housing referral assistance. The Program Director will be supported by a full-time Program Assistant. A Wellness Coordinator will prepare meals, do laundry, plan recreational activities and coordinate resident independent living skills exercises such as cooking classes and gardening. CHETH is designed as fully responsive program where individuals will stabilize, remain housed, and work toward personal development and economic self-sufficiency.

About Galvan Foundation and Mental Health Association of Columbia-Greene Counties:
Galvan Foundation is a private grant making and operating foundation which began operations in January 2012. The Foundation mission is to conserve and maintain buildings of architectural, historic and social significance in order to improve and enhance the quality of life for all Hudson residents, especially those most vulnerable or economically disadvantaged.

Mental Health Association of Columbia-Greene Counties, established in 1958, is a non-profit organization providing housing and services to those in the community living with special needs. Mental Health Association of Columbia-Greene Counties is the leading provider of mental health residential services in Columbia County, as well as a major provider of treatment, rehabilitation, case management, and support services. MHACG is a full service organization consisting of Clinical/Rehabilitation, Children and Families, and Residential Divisions. 

Preliminary elevation showing the orphanage and garage connected by the new building. This rendering does not show windows and the entry door that will be put in the connecting building.

Ground floor schematic showing Tier 1 housing in orphanage, Tier 2 in the garage, services and entry in the connecting new building.  

6 comments:

  1. So does this mean Mental Health no longer needs to tear down 900 Columbia ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. FOR RELEASE
    Tuesday, March 13, 2012
    HUD AWARDS NEW YORK STATE OVER $16 MILLION TO FUND
    49 NEW LOCAL HOMELESS PROGRAMS
    Programs in Syracuse, Buffalo, Albany, Rochester,
    NYC & Westchester Receive funding

    NEW YORK – U.S. Housing and Urban Development
    (HUD) Secretary SHAUN DONAVAN
    today awarded New York State over $16 million to support
    49 new local homeless programs across the state.
    The funding provides critically needed emergency shelter,
    transitional housing and permanent support
    for individuals and families...
    The grants announced today will support new local programs never
    before funded by HUD.
    ---------------------
    Of that 49 for homeless
    two Grants to Lantern Group
    ------
    $3,938,280.00 Lantern Group- ST Louis Hall
    . -S+C •Shelter Plus Care
    ---
    [ St Louis Hall is the acquisition and conversion
    of a 150-unit commercial SRO into
    a 141-unit development of affordable and permanent
    supportive housing in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.2008]on Lantern Site
    ------------
    $2,129,400.00 Lantern Group- Lindenguild Hall
    S+C •Shelter Plus Care
    ----
    [IN PRE-DEVELOPMENT Lindenguild Hall is a new construction,
    30 Lindenguild Hall Bronx NY]on Lantern Site
    [Federal Home Loan Bank of New York
    Projects Approved to receive Affordable Housing Program Subsidy in the 2010B Funding Round
    Sponsor -Lantern Group
    Member Name - Carver Federal Savings Bank
    103 units - AHP Subsidy $1,398,790.00 - TDC - $30,503,255.00]
    -----
    Lantern Group Site States
    97-unit development of affordable
    and permanent supportive housing
    in the Crotona Park neighborhood of the Bronx.
    ----------------
    For a total of $ 6,067,680.00 To Lantern Group in 2 grants
    --------------
    Only one other single grant in NYS over 1MIL
    ----------
    T Buffalo
    Polish Community Center of Buffalo / Hope Gardens Housing First
    SHP•Supportive Housing Program
    $1,677,863.
    -----------------------
    All other 46 Grants for NYS Homeless
    from the remaining $ 8,620,816.00
    are 6 figures and under.
    ------------------------
    Hudson, NY received 2 grants
    Both for The Mental Health Association
    of Columbia-Greene Counties
    1) Permanent SHP
    for Homeless Mentally Ill, and Family
    SHP•Supportive Housing Program
    $64,690. [Family]
    (This money cannot be used with GalVan proposal as they are not supporting homeless families in their proposal)[ Gov.Payouts are much higher on homeless individuals with mental health,addiction,AIDS/HIV and less supportive care than families...Lantern is a SRO operation also]
    ---------------
    2) Permanent SHP
    for Homeless, Mentally Ill 2
    SHP•Supportive Housing Program
    $30,768 [Individual]
    ------
    Total $ 95,458.

    ReplyDelete
  3. (small world)
    SHAUN DONONAVAN became Barack Obama's Secretary
    of the U.S. Department of Housing
    and Urban Development (HUD) in 2009.
    [BEFORE THAT]
    From 2004 to 2009, DONOVAN headed New York City's
    Department of Housing Preservation [HPD]
    and Development, overseeing a $7.5 billion
    program to build and preserve affordable housing.
    Before that he managed federal lending
    and affordable housing investments
    for Prudential Mortgage Capital Company;
    was as a deputy assistant secretary at HUD
    in the Bill Clinton administration,
    responsible for privately owned multifamily housing;
    and worked for a nonprofit lender
    and affordable-housing developer in New York City.
    Donovan received a bachelor's degree in engineering from
    Harvard University in 1987 and returned to earn two master's degrees in 1995,
    in architecture and in public administration

    " In June of 2008,
    WCBS investigative reporter Don Dahler looked into the living conditions
    of tenants in housing run by the Lantern Group.When Dahler contacted
    the Lantern Group for comment,
    they declined.
    So did the HPD, which in 2005 awarded the developer $1,018,376 in tax credits
    for low-income housing
    Dahler challenged the then-HPD Commissioner Shaun Donovan
    to explain its decisions.
    Donovan has since been promoted to Secretary of Housing and
    Urban Development under President Barack Obama"
    JESSICA KATZ -Worked under SHAUN DONAVAN at NYC / HUD until 2009
    "NY/INC.
    NEW YORK, NY 11-23- 2009—LANTERN ORGANIZATION, a not-for-profit
    corporation dedicated to strengthening New York City
    communities by increasing the supply of affordable housing,
    announces the appointment of JESSICA KATZ as Executive Director.
    KATZ comes to Lantern
    from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)
    where she served for the past six years as the Director of Housing Development
    for the Division of Special Needs Housing.
    At HPD, she was responsible for an annual supportive housing project pipeline
    worth more than $100 million
    and comprising more than 500 units.[ More than $15 million of that went to
    LANTERN as an interest-free loans]
    KATZ’s appointment makes her the first executive director in LANTERN’s
    12-year history"
    "Given Jessica Katz’s vast experience in affordable and special needs housing
    we believe she will be a perfect fit to join the Lantern Organization,”
    said T. ERIC GALLOWAY,
    president and founder of Lantern Organization.
    Established in 1997, Lantern Organization develops
    supportive, affordable and low-income housing throughout New York City.
    The Organization has 16 buildings in the operation, development, or planning
    phases. These housing developments comprise more than 1,230 units
    of affordable rental housing
    for many communities in New York City.
    LANTERN provides on-site social services
    and property management for all its properties."
    ----------------
    Content current as of 1 April 2012
    U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development[ HUD]
    451 7th Street S.W., Washington, DC 20410
    Telephone: (202) 708-1112 TTY: (202) 708-1455
    New York Regional Office
    -----------
    Office of the Director
    Luigi D'Ancona, Director
    Jessica A. Katz, Presidential Management Fellow
    -------

    ReplyDelete
  4. MEANWHILE in an unrelated story ,WINDLE WALTERS
    who had been working at NYC/ HPD since 1998 began
    working as Assitant Commisioner to then
    NYC / HPD Commisioner SHAUN DONAVON from 2005 -2009
    [ Donovan then tapped by Obama for Secretary of HUD ]
    and JESSICA KATZ was working under both men at HPD- 2006-2009
    [ Katz then tapped by LANTERN GROUP]
    WALTERS continued to be HPD Assistant Commissioner until his arrest
    [.© 2012 NBCUniversal, Inc. All rights reserved]
    Friday, Mar 23, 2012
    "WENDELL WALTERS, who joined HPD in 1998
    and became assistant commissioner in October 2005
    was arrested along with six others on kickback, bribery,
    extortion and other related charges as part of
    a years-long corruption scheme inside HPD.
    As an assistant commissioner, Walters was responsible for overseeing
    affordable housing projects across the city.
    He accepted $25,000 at a time in cash payoffs from developers
    looking to win contracts and land-use rights.
    Prosecutors said at a hearing in Brooklyn federal court
    that he received more than $2.5 million in bribes."
    ----
    [NYC]"HPD is the largest municipal developer
    of affordable housing in the country
    with hundreds of millions spent on construction.
    Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn
    said Walter abused his position within
    the city's affordable housing programs and betrayed New Yorkers."
    ----
    "This guilty plea exposes this defendant’s criminal conduct
    for what it is: a betrayal of the public trust that ripped off
    programs serving needy New Yorkers
    and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars
    in overpayments by HPD," Hearn said."
    ----

    Adam Glantz
    (212) 264-1100
    www.hud.gov/news/index.cfm
    For Release
    Thursday
    March 20, 2008
    HUD AWARDS NEW YORK CITY $355 MILLION FOR
    AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND
    COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
    [ then NYC /HPD Commisioner Shaun Donavan,
    Jessica Katz and Assitant Commisioner Windle Walters are all at HPD at this
    time and Lantern is receiving 15mil no -interest loan
    from Katz that Lantern put on a press release
    when hiring Katz as Lantern Executive director in 2009.]

    ReplyDelete
  5. Correction
    WENDELL WALTERS EX HPD ASST. COMMISIONER NYC
    -------

    Twice I made this error
    NOT WINDLE WALTERS
    ------

    ReplyDelete