CLPHA Press Room

From the Municipal Housing Authority of the City of Yonkers' press release:

 Officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the NYS Office of Housing and Community Renewal were among those who toured a unique senior housing complex in Southwest Yonkers that is being built by the Yonkers Housing Authority and the non-profit Mulford Corporation.

The LaMora Senior Housing complex in the Hollow neighborhood of South Yonkers is one of the few affordable housing projects in the country that uses energy saving Passive House design in a modular construction format. Passive House is a voluntary standard for energy efficiency which results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling. It is estimated to achieve 40-60 percent energy savings over a conventional building design.

The $44 million, four-story building has 60 energy efficient, affordable apartments for seniors and is expected to open in July.

“The La Mora Senior Apartments is an example of what can be done nationally to incorporate sustainable features into affordable housing, said Yonkers Housing Authority President and CEO Wilson Kimball. “Not only is this important for energy savings and reduction of carbon footprint, but for the protection it provides to our seniors. With on-site emergency power generation, the building will be self-contained and less vulnerable to flooding, power outages and other weather-related disruptions.’’

Among those touring the site on May 20 were Richard Monocchio, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing; RuthAnne Visnauskas – Commissioner & CEO – NYS HCR; Wilson Kimball, CEO of the Yonkers Housing Authority; State, County and Yonkers elected officials and representatives of project lead architects Perkins Eastman.

Stuart Lachs of Perkins Eastman also gave a presentation on the features of Passive House construction which focuses on minimizing heat transfer through insulation, air tightness and proper ventilation. (see attached).

All apartments include low-flow plumbing fixtures, Energy Star appliances, individual high-efficiency electric heat and cooling, and LED lighting. The building has a high-efficiency envelope, dual-pane insulated windows, and a central hot water heating and distribution system. An emergency generator will ensure that the building systems remain operable in the event of a blackout.

In addition to the energy saving features, other amenities include a community room with kitchen, two business rooms, fitness center, central laundry, building-wide WIFI, storage units, landscaped courtyard and roof deck.

The project will be included in a national panel discussion in Washington D.C. on June 7 to raise awareness of innovative and affordable housing designs and technologies. More than 4,000 people, including policymakers, housing industry representatives, media, and the public, are expected to attend.

From Yale Climate Connections:

The federal government requires all public housing to be heated to keep residents warm, but it does not require cooling. So during heat waves, people may be at risk of heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses, especially as the climate warms.

So Miami-Dade County has taken action on its own.

Jane Gilbert is the county’s chief heat officer. She says for decades, the county has required all new and redeveloped public housing to have air conditioning.

Gilbert: “But our existing buildings, still, many of them have maybe one old wall unit, and it’s a four-bedroom unit, or they didn’t have any AC.”

So last year, the county installed 1,700 air conditioning units in public housing.

Read/listen to Yale Climate Connections' piece "How Miami-Dade County is protecting public housing residents from dangerous heat waves."

From Dezeen:

Architecture firm Studio Libeskind has completed The Atrium at Sumner Houses, an affordable housing block with 190 apartments for seniors in Brooklyn, New York.

Located at the centre of the New York City Housing Authority's (NYCHA) Sumner Houses campus, the 11-storey block is wrapped around a full-height central atrium that gives the building its name.

Within the block, which has angled facades typical of Studio Libeskind's style, are 190 apartments designed for elderly people as part of the city's Seniors First program.

The majority of the apartments will house seniors earning below or equivalent to 50 percent of Area Median Income, while 57 units are for seniors who have formerly experienced homelessness. NYCHA residents will be given priority for the remaining 33 apartments, with one set aside as a residence for a live-in superintendent.

The design of The Atrium at Sumner Houses was informed by Studio Libeskind founder Daniel Libeskind's personal experiences growing up in the Amalgamated Housing Cooperative in the Bronx.

Libeskind, who is now one of the world's best-known architects, lived in the housing cooperative when he was a teenager in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

"Growing up in social housing in the Bronx gave me a unique perspective on the importance of community and high-quality, affordable housing," said Libeskind.

"I took this insight to task when designing The Atrium at Sumner Houses; I wanted to create a place that felt like home to the residents," he continued.

"I hope this project serves as a powerful example of how good design can positively impact society, especially for those in need."

Read Dezeen's article "Studio Libeskind unveils social housing that feels "like home" in Brooklyn."

A new publication from the King County Housing Authority, Seattle Housing Authority, and Tacoma Housing Authority shares their PHAs' perspectives on how the Moving to Work (MTW) program has allowed them to innovate programming and tailor housing resources and services for low-income people in the Puget Sound region. The piece outlines how the MTW program, coupled with a strong collaborative relationship among the PHAs, has helped them to make more targeted local impacts and expand housing opportunities and services for the vulnerable communities who call their PHAs home. 

Read the Publication

From the Chicago Housing Authority's press release:

Thomas King had earned an Associate Degree from Truman College and had transferred to Northeastern Illinois University where he’d been accepted into the Godwin School of Education. Everything was going well for the former restaurant worker who decided to switch gears and pursue a teaching career.

Then the pandemic hit, and everything changed. King, like many others, fell into a depression – the lack of campus access creating a feeling of isolation that exacerbated distractions and made online education challenging.

“It all just unraveled,” King said. “The whole thing just threw me off. And I started realizing something was wrong."

King is once again ready to pursue his teaching aspirations after three years of mental health struggles, thanks in part to the Chicago Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Health and Wellness Program. The program, established in 2022, offers support to individuals and families participating in the HCV program who may be experiencing various life stressors that place them at risk of housing instability or other situations that create difficulties in their daily lives.

While public housing residents have historically had access to mental health support services through the agency’s third-party service providers, this program is a first for the agency’s HCV participants. It represents a fresh focus for CHA that addresses mental health issues and utilizes trauma-informed counseling that is intentional and strategic specifically for those in the HCV program.

“CHA is evolving as an agency, and, as part of that evolution, we have recognized that we must invest in supportive services in a way that we haven’t done before,” CHA CEO Tracey Scott said. “By proactively helping residents make their mental health a priority, we are taking the steps necessary to make sure they have a better and brighter present and more options for the future.”

Cheryl Burns, CHA’s Chief Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Officer, said: “In my day-to-day experience with participants, I noticed how many of them had needs that CHA was unable to meet,” she said. “Hiring a clinical therapist to assist families was a natural outgrowth of the services that we offer. We provide support to families in many ways, but recognizing the stress and trauma that people were experiencing made it important to offer an outlet that made our engagement more productive."

For King, the falling out of a routine led to not sleeping well which led to a depression that caused him to drift away from friends. It is something he is still coping with but feels a sense of support since participating in the Health and Wellness program.

“I’m so glad I found it,” he said. “For me it’s the reinforcing ideas of mindfulness and allowing me to talk about things that are going on. It’s really important to have someone to talk with about things that we’re not necessarily comfortable talking about."

The program is available to HCV participants and property owners, offering general resources as well as information on how they can provide support to tenants who may be experiencing challenges. There is no cost and participation is confidential and has no impact on a participant’s voucher.

Services are available by phone, through video conference or in person at a designated CHA office during normal business hours and include:

• Case Management
• Care Coordination
• Information on Community-Based Resources
• Individual and Family Therapy
• General Support with Conflict Resolution between Property Owners and participants.

King credits Program Manager Doreen Green, a clinical therapist who helped establish the program in June 2022, with responding fast, giving timely information and providing excellent service that helped them immediately.

“I am very happy that Mr. King reached out to the program,” Green said. “I believe Mr. King has shown that it is okay to be human. I commend him for asking for help and taking steps to make changes in his life. I appreciate being able to witness his growth as he continues to not only be alive - but to truly live and thrive."

Now, King is meeting with professors at NEIU to discuss his road to a teaching degree. He is optimistic for the first time in months and looking to learn new things and finish what he started.

“I’m in a better place right now,” he said. “I’m looking to get back into a routine, back to being on campus and back to interacting with people.”