Introduction
The Helmsley Charitable Trust’s New York City Program is strategically focused on improving housing for health for New Yorkers with complex health needs, and recognized that CSH is uniquely positioned, with both a national and local New York focus, to find solutions to the rising health acuity challenges facing New York City’s supportive housing system. CSH proposed and was awarded a three-year grant from Helmsley to focus research, pilot, and evaluative efforts on this problem. CSH is proud to partner with The Supportive Housing Network of New York and The Health and Housing Consortium to address this urgent and important need.
The Need
Since the pandemic, CSH has observed a shift in the landscape of supportive housing. Across the country, more people are experiencing prolonged homelessness due to obstacles in accessing health care, housing, and community-based services. Many individuals entering or living in supportive housing are navigating complex health conditions, often without consistent access to care that is coordinated and person-centered. The COVID-19 pandemic also led to the closure of many nonprofit service providers, and the sector continues to feel the impact of a reduced service infrastructure
At the same time, the population within supportive housing is changing. Older adults, age 50+, now represent the fastest-growing group, with many entering homelessness and crisis systems for the first time. People living with multiple co-occurring physical and behavioral health conditions often face fragmented systems that make it difficult to access the resources they need to thrive.
Communities across the country are working to respond to these shifts, often with limited funding and programming. Despite these challenges, supportive housing remains a powerful solution—offering deeply affordable homes paired with person-centered, flexible services that promote stability, wellness, and dignity.
As the field evolves, a key question emerges: How can supportive housing providers adapt to better support residents with diverse and complex challenges?
Landscape Assessment
To best understand how to serve people living with multiple co-occurring physical and behavioral health conditions, CSH conducted a landscape assessment on both a national and local scale. This offered a wealth of information on what people – both tenants and staff- are observing on the ground and how agencies are pivoting to remain proactive and person centered.
Request for Proposal
CSH has announced a request for proposals (RFP) from New York City-based supportive housing providers. This RFP will award $1,000,000 in flexible grant funding to help providers respond to the needs of their staff and tenants through 2-year pilot programs that support the health of supportive housing residents through flexible, innovative interventions. Interested parties are encouraged to submit a Letter of Interest (LOI). Those selected from the LOI pool will be invited to apply for the full RFP. The pilot interventions should:
- Address the challenges faced by high-acuity New Yorkers in supportive housing and experiencing homelessness;
- Increase collaboration across stakeholders in the NYC homelessness system;
- Address health needs by increasing access to quality services so supportive housing providers are better equipped to accept individuals with more complex health and behavioral needs;
- Stabilize housing for existing supportive housing tenants by enabling access to greater health services.
CSH will evaluate learnings from the pilot and make the case to state and city policymakers, NYC council, and the NYC mayor for the sustainability of these pilot programs.
We thank the Helmsley Charitable Trust for their generous support of this work.
Deadline for LOI Submission:
LOIs should be submitted to: [email protected] by 5:00 PM on June 27, 2025
Info Session on June 17 at 2PM ET
Learn more about the RFP at our upcoming info session on June 17, 2025.
Timeline
| June 2025 | RFP will be announced June 6 at SHNNY Conference Landscape Assessment will be published online LOI due June 27 RFP Invites released July 17 |
| July 2025 | Office hours for grant applicants |
| August 2025 | RFP Applications due August 15 |
| September 2025 | Review applications Final candidate interviews |
| October 2025 | Awardees selected and announced October 3, 2025 |
| November/December 2025 | Meeting with awardees, ensuring awardees are set for pilot start in January 2026 Share individual pilot metrics for tracking |
| January 2026 | Pilots will kick off January 5, 2026 |
