11/03/2021

CSH Announces Supportive Housing Champions and Innovations Award Winners in Commemoration of its 30th Anniversary

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Jesse Dean
Email: jesse.dean@csh.org
Phone: 347-932-0132

New York, NY | November 3, 2021 - To mark CSH's 30th Anniversary and the 2021 Supportive Housing Symposium, CSH recognized 60 changemakers, lawmakers, developers, and initiatives that have helped advance supportive housing during the last three decades.

The CSH 30th Anniversary Champion and Innovation Awards celebrate the achievements and innovations that have made supportive housing a force for change in addressing chronic homelessness and racial inequity.

CSH received nearly 130 nominations and our review panels evaluated each nominee for their impact across various categories, including their focus on equity, ingenuity, and scalability. Each nomination attested to the collective efforts across the country to create safe and stable housing for millions of people across the country.

"While we are proud of our work to advance supportive housing over the past three decades, our efforts would not have been achievable without the ingenuity and support of our partners," Deborah De Santis, President and CEO of CSH, said. "It is our shared commitment to housing individuals and providing them with the support they need to thrive that has brought us where we are today. We congratulate the winners and remain grateful to each nominee for collaborating with CSH to end homelessness, advance racial equity and build thriving communities."

The winners were first announced at a virtual awards ceremony by three CSH advocates, including women with lived experiences of homelessness. The presenters were Dorothy Edwards, a member of the CSH Board of Directors, LaRae Cantley, and Stephanie Lazarus. The National Equity Fund generously sponsored the CSH Champion and Innovation Awards ceremony.

"Over the past three decades, National Equity Fund and CSH have grown stronger together as pioneers in permanent supportive housing. Since the early 1990s, our collaboration and unwavering commitments to breaking the cycle of homelessness have helped expedite and ensure the sustainability of affordable housing combined with onsite services for the long term. As the need continues to grow, so will our efforts in partnership with CSH to provide more individuals and families both a place to call home and the opportunity to thrive," said Matt Reilein, President and CEO, National Equity Fund. 

Join us in congratulating all our award winners:


CSH Supportive Housing Champion Awardees CHAMPION – ADVOCATE

Mike Alvidrez
California
Mike Alvidrez has been a champion for unhoused Angelenos for over 30 years and through his work as CEO Emeritus of Skid Row Housing Trust.

Amanda Misiko Andere and Funders Together to End Homelessness
National

Amanda Andere is leading the nation in centering racial equity and driving resources towards housing justice.

California State Assembly Member
Assembly Member David Chiu

Assembly Member David Chiu has displayed extraordinary efforts to solve homelessness in California and championed $2.4 billion in ongoing funding for housing and services.

California State Assembly Member
Assembly Member Luz Rivas
Assembly Member Luz Rivas has displayed tireless efforts to solve homelessness in California and championed $2.4 billion in ongoing funding for housing and services.

Ray Lay - SMI Enterprises LLC
Indiana

Ray set a national example of the power of lived experience to improve human services and execute well-designed housing for people to live and thrive.

Jeffrey Nesbitt - Saint Leonard's Court
Illinois
Jeffrey and Saint Leonard’s Court work tirelessly to help their resident thrive and to demonstrate how those who have lived in supportive housing can become leaders in championing supportive housing.

United States Senator Jack Reed
Rhode Island
Senator Reed of Rhode Island has led the charge in the U.S. Senate to ensure bi-partisan support for evidence-based solutions for homelessness that has impacted every state and community in the country.

Speak Up! Graduates
Los Angeles, Illinois and Ohio
It is impossible to overstate the impact and importance of the work done by SpeakUp! graduates where their advocacy and voice have been a catalyst for policy changes and ensured that people with lived experience are invited to places where decisions are made.

State Supportive Housing Associations
National

Supportive Housing Associations are backbones in our communities, putting muscle into advocacy to develop the field of supportive housing and ensure sustainable resources for providers and tenants. Today, we honor these State Housing Associations: Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio; Colorado Coalition for the Homeless; Connecticut Partnership for Strong Communities; DC Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development; Florida Supportive Housing Coalition, Georgia Supportive Housing Association; Housing California; Illinois Supportive Housing Providers Association; Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance; Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness; Minnesota Homes for All; Supportive Housing Association of New Jersey; Supportive Housing Network of New York (The Network); Texas Homeless Network; Virginia Housing Alliance; and Washington Low Income Housing Alliance;

United States Representative Maxine Waters
California

Representative Waters has been a consistent champion of housing and support and her work on behalf of homeless individuals. As Chair of the Financial Services Committee, she set the bar for the vision laid out in the Ending Homelessness Act of 2021 that creates a pathway for universal access to housing supports.


CHAMPION – BARRIER BREAKER

Celina Alvarez and Housing Works of California
California
Celina Alvarez is a recognized leader at Housing Works who has created opportunities for people with lived expertise in informing service delivery and pathways to economic mobility.

Avalon Housing
Michigan

Avalon Housing is a consistent leader in developing high-quality housing and in pushing the boundaries to serve those with complex barriers to housing.

Jury Candelario and Jazzmun Crayton - APAIT - Special Service for Groups
California

Jury and Jazzman work collaboratively to shine a light on the needs of transgender women in Los Angeles and housing them through the Casa Zulma and Auntie Mele's House programs.

Chrysalis Center
Connecticut
The Chrysalis Center is a beacon in the field for exceptionally high-quality supportive housing and their commitment to the resident experience, community supports and employment.

Mary Cunningham - Urban Institute
National
Mary Cunningham has used her platform and research acumen to design and carry out several studies that demonstrate the impact of supportive housing and help shape public policy.

Downtown Emergency Service Center
Washington
The Downtown Emergency Service Center’s tireless efforts reaches those who have been left behind on the streets and they contribute exceptional leadership in the Housing First Partners Conference.

Ralph Fasano & Concern for Independent Living Inc.
New York

Ralph Fasano, through Concern for Independent Living, has been a pioneer for supportive housing development and utilizing Medicaid for housing, and led development for one of the first contracted VASH service providers.

Joe Finn & Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance
Massachusetts
Joe Finn’s work with the Massachusetts Homeless and Shelter Alliance has been an example of advocacy and innovation, pioneering one of the first national models to use managed care to fund services in supportive housing and developing the nation's first Pay for Success model.

Roseanne Haggerty & Built for Zero
National

Ever the visionary, through Built for Zero, Roseanne has set a bold vision for how the nation can make homelessness rare and brief and empower communities to tap their own potential to effect change.

Paul Solomon & Sponsors Inc.
Oregon
Paul Solomon and Sponsor, Inc. are leaders in supportive housing for people who are leaving state prison. They support counties and tribal nations in building infrastructure to help those who cycle through jail and hospitals.

Ed Stellon & Heartland Alliance Health
Illinois
Ed Stellon's leadership at Heartland Alliance Health has advanced work with evidence-based models such as Harm Reduction, Housing First and Behavioral Health with a blend compassion and an unwavering commitment to human potential.

Sam Tsemberis
National
Sam Tsemberis's work to pioneer the Housing First model of supportive housing was based on the belief that housing is a basic human right. Pathways to Housing showed that when people have access to a home and the support they need, and the choice over where and how to receive those supports, they can thrive. His work ignited an international movement.



CHAMPION – PUBLIC PARTNER

Piedad Garcia, Ed.D., LCSW and San Diego Department of Behavioral Health Services
California

Dr. Piedad Garcia has implemented client-centered biopsychosocial rehabilitation services and develops supportive housing options to enable people to thrive in their community.

Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority - Housing Development Team
Indiana
The team continues to drive innovation in the state of Indiana to expand housing access for those who are aging, children, youth and families, those leaving institutions and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Mecklenburg County Community Support Services
North Carolina
The Mecklenburg County Community Support Services is an extraordinary example of smart public government with several achievements and for advancing groundbreaking initiatives such as FUSE and Keeping Families Together.

New Jersey Department of Children and Families
New Jersey
The New Jersey DCF is one of the best examples of how public housing development can be paired with children and family services support to create a pipeline of housing opportunities.

Ohio Community Shelter Board
Ohio

The Community Shelter Board's focus on strategy, accountability, and public/private partnerships drive resources to address chronic homelessness.

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (ODRC) used discretionary funds to start one of the nation’s first supportive housing programs explicitly focused on people exiting prison with behavioral health needs at risk of homelessness. ODRC stands out in their field as visionary leaders who invest in community-based alternatives to incarceration. They have worked hard to reduce incarceration and promote recovery from mental illness and addictions by ensuring that people exiting prisons do not fall into homelessness.

Rodney Stockment
Indiana
Wherever he goes, Rodney is infectious in his work to find resources for supportive housing. His work set the stage for a continuing impact on homelessness with Indianapolis Mayor Hogsett.

Washington State Healthcare Authority and Long Term Services Administration
Washington

Its pioneering work to create Medicaid benefits provided supportive housing tenancy supports and living-wage employment services to thousands of participants.


CSH Supportive Housing Innovation Awardees

INNOVATION – CATALYST

Families in Transition Program
Illinois
The Families in Transition program combined data from education and homelessness systems to measure the impact of housing instability on families and then identified and placed families into supportive housing.

Framework for an Equitable Covid-19 Response to Homelessness
National
The Framework for an Equitable COVID-19 Homelessness Response not only prioritized racial justice and equity as the pandemic emerged, but opened a conversation about what an equitable recovery will look like, long after the pandemic has passed.

Full Circle Communities
Illinois and Michigan
With projects in Chicago and Detroit, Full Circle Communities focuses on culturally responsive services and partnerships that strengthen the quality of housing and services and promote equitable access to capital and infrastructure.

HOPE (Helping Older People Engage): Project Renewal Inc.
New York
HOPE/Project Renewal combines occupational therapy with tenancy supports service so that elder residents in supportive housing not only survive by thrive in an independent setting.

Howie the Harp Peer Services - Community Access & Steve Coe
New York
Howie the Harp peer training program was one of the first internationally-recognized models that helped demonstrate the positive impact that peer services can have for tenant recovery and professional growth. 

New York, New York 1 Agreement
New York
The NY/NY 1 Agreement was signed by Governor Mario Cuomo and Mayor David Dinkins in 1990.  NYC Departments of Human Resources, Homeless Services and Health and Mental Hygiene and the NYS Office of Mental Health worked over the next three years to operationalize it, spurring countless innovations and putting supportive housing on the map as a public resource to solve complex challenges.

Partners for HOME
Georgia
By deploying a braided-funding mode that leveraged City of Atlanta funding, Housing Vouchers, County Services, New Market Tax Credits and public/private development partnerships, Partners for HOME has created a pipeline of integrated supportive, senior and affordable housing, and most recently, a health clinic to augment health services for residents.

Toolkit on Building Supportive Housing for Domestic Violence and Trauma Survivors
Downtown Women’s Center and NASH
California
To remedy the gap in public guidance on housing solutions that meet the specific needs of domestic abuse survivors, Downtown Women’s Center and NASH partnered in 2019 to develop a groundbreaking toolkit as a best practice resource for all parties involved in building and operating permanent supportive housing for survivors.


INNOVATION – QUALITY IN SUPPORTIVE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

Anishinabe Wakaigun - American Indian Community Development Corporation
Minnesota
Aishinabe Wakaigun was a groundbreaking culturally specific supportive housing development that was an early model of harm reduction housing.

Arlington Apartments - Tacoma Housing Authority
Washington
Tacoma Housing Authority's Arlington Apartments project in collaboration with YMCA of Greater Seattle is an innovative model built to meet young adults' evolving needs through youth input of the housing’s design and execution and trauma-informed services.

Bailey-Holt House Development
New York
In the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Bailey Holt House was the first example of supportive housing development for people living with HIV/AIDS.

CAMBA Gardens
New York
Camba Gardens demonstrated how partnerships could meet the needs of health and housing sectors through housing held to the highest standards and designed with architectural and artistic features that are the community's pride.

Dorothy Day Residence and St. Paul Opportunity Center
Minnesota
The Dorothy Day Residence and Saint Paul Opportunity Center have integrated an innovative combination of supportive and affordable housing, medical respite, emergency shelter, and a multi-service facility that houses a Federally Qualified Health Center and Veterans services.  

Foyer for Youth & Times Square Hotel - Breaking Ground
New York
The Breaking Ground's Times Square Hotel and Chelsea Foyer projects have changed the national dialogue on the possibility supportive housing provides to people experiencing homelessness.

Kelly Cullen Communities – Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation
California
Kelly Cullen Community, led by Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, brought new life to a YMCA. It developed a new hub in partnership with neighborhood Federally Qualified Health Centers as part of an early wave of projects focused on establishinghousing as a social determinant of health.

New Directions Sepulveda I & II: A Community of Friends
California
With the New Directions Sepulveda projects, A Community of Friends helped blaze a trail for how Veterans Administration, housing development, and service providers could break through red tape to make supportive housing development for veterans achievable.

Rittenhouse - New Hope Housing
Texas
The Rittenhouse is an example of community integration, spanning multiple service providers, common spaces that promote interaction, and resources to help residents thrive.

The Castle and Castle Gardens - Fortune Society
New York
Despite facing initial community opposition, the Castle and Castle Gardens Fortune Society built high-quality supportive housing that supports people involved with the justice system and earned the respect and trust of the community. They changed unwarranted beliefs about people who have been incarcerated. 

True Colors – Homeward NYC
New York
True Colors Residence was the first supportive housing project developed in New York City for LGBTQ+ youth with a history of homelessness.  The partnership with pop star Cyndi Lauper helped shine a light on the critical issue of how stigma and beliefs about sexual identity and orientation contribute to homelessness.

Wayne Densch Project - Ability Housing
Florida
Wayne Densch Apartments is a leading example of rehabilitation and conversion of transitional housing to high-quality supportive housing and health services through an innovative model of a public-private partnership with one of the nation’s largest health systems.

Weinberg Commons
New Jersey
Their innovative approach to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities balances the competing demands of independence and community belonging, as an example of hybrid development including 'eight independent 'cottages' within two 80-unit buildings integrated with senior affordable housing.


INNOVATION – THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Colorado Coalition for the Homeless
Colorado
Colorado Coalition for the Homeless multiple housing innovations includes Renaissance Legacy Lofts and the Stout Street Recuperative Care Facility. Their pioneering work as a service partner and thought leader in the Denver Social Impact Bond. 

DISH
California
DISH's work to develop quality property management services demonstrated that the best way to strengthen housing developments was by ensuring tenants and their rights were respected and valued.

LAHSA Ad Hoc Committee on Black People Experiencing Homelessness
California
LAHSA addressed an overwhelming fact that 40% of people experiencing homelessness identified as Black or African American while only comprising 9% of the population and produced a set of recommendations which has been the starting point for a number of community-driven initiatives to address structural racism in systems, including supportive housing.  The analysis and leadership have spurred similar efforts in jurisdictions across the country.

Lived Experience Advisory Board: Destination Home
California
Destination Home Lived Experience Advisory Board serves as a platform for people with lived expertise to provide meaningful input to the county’s housing system and how their voice can be authentically integrated into community process.

Los Angeles Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool
California
The LA County Department of Health Services made a leap of faith by developing and financing the Flexible Housing Pool, an innovative approach to financing and managing housing resources.

New York, New York I Cost Study: Dennis P. Culhane, Stephen Metraux, Trevor Hadley
New York
No single rigorous study of supportive housing has had more impact than the evaluation of the initial cohort of people placed into supportive housing in the NY/NY Initiative.  Dennis Culhane, Stephen Metraux and Trevor Hadley's system utilization and cost analysis demonstrated the benefit of supportive housing and the tremendous financial cost of the status quo.

Pine Street Inn
Massachusetts
Pine Street Inn shifted from warehousing people in a shelter by approaching the challenge with data, passion and utilizing all resources available. They converted their assets and created supportive and affordable housing while demonstrating the potential for large-scale change.

Regional Supportive Housing Impact Fund
Oregon
The Regional Supportive Housing Impact Fund is a concept developed by a collaborative of healthcare entities in Oregon’s Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington Counties that aims to address homelessness using a framework centered in racial equity that includes a flexible fund to expand supportive housing capacity; a focus on coordinating transitions into supportive housing from other care settings; and data collection and analytics to monitor and evaluate the impact of these investments. Collaborative members: Cambia Health; Care Oregon; Central City Concern; Collins Foundation; Kaiser Permanente; Legacy Health; Meyer Memorial Trust; Oregon Community Foundation; OHSU (and Adventist); and Providence Health and Services.

St. Paul’s Senior Services
California
St. Paul’s Senior Services pioneered and developed partnerships between supportive housing and PACE (Program For All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) Centers to serve as a model to the nation for integrating housing and services for the aged.

Copyright 2022 ©  by CSH. All Rights Reserved