Nazareth Housing, Inc.
Unlocking potential since 1983
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Nazareth Housing seeks to decrease the number of individuals and families that are homeless or are at-risk of being homeless. In 2006, knowing that emergency shelter is a stepping stone and not the solution to homelessness, NH launched HSSP to meet the needs of the growing number of households facing the loss of their housing. HSSP offers housing retention and economic
empowerment through NH's HUD-certified housing counseling, needs assessment, emergency assistance, eviction prevention, and financial empowerment activities. By helping to secure and stabilize a basic need such as housing, we are mitigating the effects of poverty on families and individuals, positioning them for a more secure future.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Emergency Family Shelter (EFS)
Nazareth Housing manages 29 units of Emergency Family Shelter for families with dependent children. In the Bronx, our Thorpe House residence provides temporary transitional housing for 16 families. On the Lower East Side, EFS units are co-located alongside permanent supportive housing residences; by living in a mixed residency building, children avoid the stigma generally associated with living in a shelter. All families work one-on-one with case management staff throughout their stay to become, and remain, stably housed.
Housing Stability Support Project (HSSP)
In the struggle to end homelessness, our most critical challenge is preventing it from happening in the first place, as well as helping formerly homeless households to avoid relapsing into shelter. Both strategies are implemented through the Housing Stability Support Project (HSSP), a 12-year old initiative and precursor to the City’s HomeBase program, which has provided social service support to thousands of low-income families since 2006.
Through HSSP, formerly homeless families receive extensive ongoing case management and frequent check-ins from case workers to ensure retention of housing and financial stability. Eviction prevention support provides targeted assistance to individuals and families experiencing challenges that threaten housing stability. Clients facing rent or utility arrears, unexpected medical costs, and other urgent family needs may be helped directly through HSSP programming or be linked to an appropriate social service, government, or community-based organization.
LifeLab
LifeLab is a hallmark of our homelessness prevention programming, is an umbrella suite of educational and counseling programs that seeks to enhance personal and family strengths through workshops, training, supportive engagement, and inspired play. Free and open to both our residents and the larger community, the program encourages personal and community development through a diverse array of services, including:
HousingLab, facilitated by our HUD-certified housing counselors, is a seminar series educating low-income renters in New York City about housing opportunities and options, fair housing practices, best practices for conducting a housing search, and more. All of our Emergency Family Shelter residents attend HousingLab workshops as part of their case management, providing them with the skills necessary to become, and stay, safely housed.
MoneyLab supports financial wellbeing through the provision of one-on-one budget counseling and financial coaching as well as free, yearly VITA-certified tax season assistance, including Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) screenings. In the 2018 tax season, MoneyLab staff prepared 1,248 free tax filings, returning $1.9 million to low-income families and individuals from all five boroughs.
MyLab programming addresses the needs of, primarily, single mother heads of household, and includes workshops designed to promote healthy family dynamics and overall wellness. Women’s health, nutrition, parenting techniques, emotional wellness, and anger management are some of the topics covered by MyLab workshops, helping participants build the personal, foundational strength from which housing and financial security is a natural outcome.
YouthLab promotes social and creative engagement through theater, artistic and musical expression, literacy programming, holiday events, and more. These outlets provide a safe, encouraging, and creative atmosphere for the children of our clients and residents to grow academically, socially, and artistically, and often serve as a much-needed complement to daycare services for working parents, especially during school breaks.
Urgent Needs Assistance
Louise’s Pantry is a robust weekly food security program on the Lower East Side and in the Bronx. In FY17 30,142 low-income, immigrant, and senior citizen clients received food assistance at the Pantry (supplementing approximately 90,426 meals); toiletries, coats, infant supplies, and household goods are also distributed as needed. The Furniture Donation Service is an innovative program that has been providing no-cost delivery of donated furniture and household items to low-income families for over a decade, stretching household dollars further and minimizing living expenses. Most importantly, both programs act as gateways to additional services; all clients enrolled in Louise’s Pantry or requesting furniture assistance are screened for domestic violence, potential health benefits, entitlements, causes of housing insecurity, and more.
Supportive Housing
Residents of Nazareth Housing’s 40 supportive housing units come from a variety of backgrounds and family compositions, from single mothers with young children to seniors, immigrants, and veterans. They benefit from affordable rent that is stabilized or tailored to fit their income, as well as a support network of highly trained case managers and building staff that meet with them in regularly-scheduled one-on-one tenant meetings. With an apartment of their own, dedicated and caring staff, and a wealth of services and programming to avail themselves of, supportive housing residents build strong foundations for housing stability and economic security.
Where we work
Awards
Certified Housing Counseling Agency 2006
US Department of Housing and Urban Development
Certified Housing Counseling Agency 2008
US Department of Housing and Urban Development
Certified Housing Counseling Agency 2010
US Department of Housing and Urban Development
Top Provider for Tier II family Shelter under 100 beds 2008
New York City Department of Homeless Services
National Family Strengthening Award Top Ten Agency 2009
Annie E CAsey / Catholic Charities USA
Affiliations & memberships
Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance - Organization 2010
Catholic Charities USA 1983
External reviews
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
In December 2014, the board voted to approve our current strategic plan. This plan was developed in consultation with a range of stakeholders, staff and independent professionals working in the areas of housing, homelessness prevention, financial security and supportive housing. The strategic plan is in the implementation stage, having achieved its first priority: the merger of Thorpe Family Residence into Nazareth Housing, Inc. We are currently completing the second priority item of filling new strategic leadership positions. Additionally, we are considering options for a flagship site and expansion of homelessness prevention and supportive housing. These items will be developed over the next 2-3 years.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
HSSP which provides ongoing case management for families in danger of homelessness, as well as formerly homeless families that transition to safe, permanent housing, helping to ensure the retention of their housing and stability of their families; needs assessments regarding barriers to safe, stable housing; and eviction prevention support for rent, utility arrears, and other urgent family needs that threaten housing stability.
Our umbrella LifeLab programming offers an integrated approach to enhancing personal and family strengths. It builds independence and confidence in economic well-being through workshops, training, strengths-based supportive engagement and inspired play for participants. It
is divided into four streams:
● HousingLab : offers HUD-certified housing counseling seminars, workshops on housing opportunities and options, tenant rights and fair housing law, housing search tools and skills.
● MoneyLab: provides free tax preparation, financial coaching, credit repair, budget skills, employment readiness, assistance with obtaining entitlements;
● MyLab : a holistic wellness model program addressing parenting, nutrition, obesity, anger management, interpersonal communications.
● YouthLab : offers Art Start and Little Creatures Theater to encourage social engagement through visual, media, music, literacy and creativity building through arts and theater.
Urgent Needs Assistance includes emergency food supplied through two pantries--one in the Lower East Side and the other in the Bronx. Louise's Pantry on East 4th Street supplies food, clothing, toiletries, and other urgent needs assistance to low-income families and individuals living on the Lower East Side. Its sister pantry in the Bronx operates on the client choice model and offers nutritional workshops and programming. We also run a unique Furniture Donation Service (FDS), a free program that provides no-cost delivery of donated furniture and household items to low-income families that could not otherwise be able to afford them. Food, clothing and furniture
are essential household needs. By providing goods and services in kind to low-income households, we are facilitating the household's ability to pay rent as household budget dollars can be stretched further.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We meet the needs of our clients by addressing the various factors that place our clients at risk of being unhoused. We will screen for public benefit eligibility and ensure that clients are enrolled in all of the benefit programs for which they are eligible. We see public benefits as one tool to build self-sufficiency. We assist clients in applying for affordable housing programs through such venues as the NYC Housing Connect portal. We provide individualized financial coaching to help clients build a more secure economic foundation. Finally, we provide immediate financial assistance for urgent needs.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We work to prevent homelessness before it befalls a household, identifying and addressing its root causes through the comprehensive framework of the Housing Stability Support Project. HSSP has become one of our most important programs, growing from 671 households served in 2006 to 2,291 – or 8,001 individuals – served in 2017. We aim to expand our effective prevention services to critical areas beyond the Bronx and Lower East Side.
Louise's Pantry began in the wake of Superstorm Sandy to meet the pressing need for food security for a devastated community. Since 2012, Louise's Pantry has grown from a few pallets of supplies after a storm to weekly food distribution from two locations in the Bronx and Lower East Side, serving over 75,000 meals to over 8,000 families yearly. As we continue to grow Louise's Pantry, further increasing our ability to distribute fresh fruits and seasonal vegetables will be top priority.
Our MoneyLab program serves as one of the most crucial gateways to services. Nazareth Housing's partnership with the Financial Clinic providing free VITA tax preparation has returned $4,100,000 to 2,648 families over the 2017 and 2018 tax seasons. We have added an additional financial coach to increase our ability to work one-on-one with families to strengthen economic independence. Our continuing goal is to make MoneyLab one of the cornerstone programs at Nazareth Housing, and ending homelessness before it starts by merging our HUD-certified housing counseling program with our one-on-one financial coaching program.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Nazareth Housing, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 06/07/2018
Mary Beth Hogan
Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP
Term: 2012 -
James Ryan
Merrill Lynch
Mary C Kilbourn
New York Historical Society
Bennette D. Kramer
Schlam Stone & Dolan
Leonard Shavel
New Province Partners
Steven M Edwards
Quinn Emanuel
Cari Wint
Bristol-Meyers Squibb
Eric R Dinallo
Guardian Life Insurance
Mary Kay Orr
JPMorgan Chase & Co., retired
Tara Chambers
Sr. Irene Ellis, O.P.
Dominican Sisters of Sparkill
Stephen Wronski
Morgan Stanley
Mary Beth Hogan
Debevoise & Plimpton
Allison Franco, LCSW
Louis Calder Foundation, Retired
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes