Next Step Housing Initiative Launched in NYS

The “Next Step Housing Initiative—a pilot program to help formerly homeless and low-income individuals move into new rental units with support services—has been launched by the Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS) and the New York State Housing Finance Agency (NYS HFA).

As part of the three-year program, participating housing developers will reserve a percentage of affordable units for Next Step Housing participants in HFA-financed 80/20 apartment projects, buildings where 80 percent of the units are market rate and 20 percent are reserved for low-income households. A pipeline of 25 rental units has already been created for the program.

The initiative is part of the NYS HFA’s effort to encourage developers to include supportive housing in projects financed by the agency. In the last three years, HFA has financed 769 affordable supportive housing units—including 445 in 2009.

The three-year pilot program will include an evaluation component. If the project has proven successful by year three, CUCS will work with the state’s HFA to expand the number of units and participating supportive housing providers.