On Friday July 17, members of the CSH Aging Learning Collaborative toured the newly-renovated 10-story Capitol Hall Residences owned and operated by Goddard Riverside Community Center. Capitol Hall, which provides housing to formerly homeless men and women as well as social service case management to keep tenants housed, recently undertook major renovations to its 201 single-room occupancy apartments to make them more age-friendly. The renovations were funded by NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD).
All 201 apartments are now ADA- accessible. In addition, members of CSH’s NYC Aging Learning Collaborative were able to see the new social service and community space.
Goddard is one of the three NYC supportive housing awardees of the NYS Medicaid Redesign Senior Supportive Housing pilot, which provided funds for supportive services and capital assistance to address the needs of low-income seniors throughout the State of New York. This pilot initiative helps low-income seniors remain housed in their current apartments for as long as possible, and reduces avoidable nursing home placement and ER admissions. Pilot providers were awarded a maximum of $500,000 for a two-year contract period.
“The HPD funded improvements at Capitol Hall have greatly improved the accessibility for those clients with mobility issues and allowed them to continue to live independently,” says Ashley Arner, Assistant Program Director at Capitol Hall Social Services/Senior Supportive Housing Pilot Program. “Furthermore, renovations included the conversion of underutilized space into a community space. This has allowed us to augment programming capabilities with an eye toward limiting client isolation by fostering engagement. With the addition of the Senior Pilot Staff, much needed social services have increased particularly at Capitol Hall, as well as at other GRCC supportive housing sites.”
CSH’s Aging Learning Collaborative consists of 11 organizations (9 NYC-based and 2 Supportive Housing providers from surrounding counties). The Collaborative has been meeting since January 2015 to identify best practices and core competencies for Supportive Housing staff serving aging and elderly adults tenants.