October 7, 2024 • 14 mins
Like other cities, New York City has a growing crisis of homelessness, and a systemic challenge of using housing vouchers to secure housing. Our guest is Laura Lazarus, co-founder of Anthos | Home, which works to make every step of the voucher process easier for both future tenants participating landlords. For more, visit anthoshome.org.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to get connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven Light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Thanks for listening to get connected. Like other cities, New
York has a growing crisis of homelessness and a systemic
challenge for both people in need and landlords to work
with housing vouchures. Our guest is Laura Lazarus, co founder
of Anthos Home, which works to make every step of
the voucher process easier and attract more participating landlords. Laura Lazarus,
(00:36):
thank you for being on to get connected.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Laura Lazarus has more than thirty years of experience in
New York City's affordable housing world as both a developer
and a leader in the nonprofit and government sectors. You
can find out more about the organization at anthoshome dot org. Laura,
a little bit of a just definition of what we're
talking about for people who aren't familiar. How are are
federally funded vouchers subsidies designed to work?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
So these vouchers, they're called housing vouchers or rental subsidy vouchers.
The way they work is that a family who is
low income or a person who is low income, the
subsidy comes in to help them afford a reasonable rent.
So if they make very little money, then the government
(01:25):
will pay the difference between what they can afford, which
ideally is thirty percent of their income, and what the
rent is expected to be paid to the landlord. So
they're coming in as a gap filler. And it's not
just federal subsidies. Just so you know that we work
with We work with their subsidies that are provided by
the city and the state in New York. So housing
(01:46):
vouchers are available from all different sources, but they all
work the same way.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
And why have they been so difficult for prospective tenants
to use?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
So let me just back up. The housing voucher itself
is an amazing toime tool when it is effectively used,
and so if a household is able to find a unit,
they are able to stay stably housed for a very
long time because it's such an incredible resource. But the
problem is that they are difficult to use. Nationally, forty
percent of people are unable to use a voucher, and
(02:18):
in New York City it takes a family on average
more than two years to find a unit with a voucher,
if they can find one at all. And the reason
that they're so difficult to use is that the vouchers
themselves are very complex. They are difficult for landlords to administer.
They have landlords have to wait for processing by the government.
(02:41):
Tenants don't necessarily know how to use them. Tenants are
often competing for a lot of units out there in
the city. In New York City, for example, there's a
one point four percent vacancy rate, so they're competing with
a lot of different people. And also, the vouchers require
a certain level of quality in the unit, and some
landlord don't want to necessarily make those improvements. And so
(03:04):
we've created a program that's designed to try and help
address some of these obstacles that make it difficult to
use vouchers.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yes, so you and your partner, Leslie Abbey, found at
Anthos Home in twenty twenty two. She is CEO of
Hot Bread Kitchen, which we've actually featured on this show
in the past. What together did you see that you
could fix?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
So we decided that really focusing on the match between
the person who's in shelter and the landlord was really
what could be solved that we could come up with
a way in which somebody who's in shelter could find
housing quickly, efficiently, and we could also help the landlord
make it much easier for them. So the idea is
(03:46):
that through a partnership with government, with nonprofits, with the
future tenants, and with landlords and property owners, we could
really address this situation. And it's really focused on providing
a dish supports and services to expedite that move from
shelter into permanent housing and make it as easy as possible.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
One of the ways you're doing this is through what
you're calling banking units. That a system that's really been
a game changer. How does that work? So?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yes. So one of the things that we do is
we have a flexible pool of funds and that allows
us to develop relationships with landlords and owners and property
providers throughout New York City, and we work with those
owners to reserve units so that they are available for
future tenants. So tenants, people who are living in shelter
(04:37):
come to us and we are able to take them
to a unit. Within a week or two, they can
select that unit. We will present the unit the person
to the landlord, they can review them, but ideally there's
a match within a couple of weeks, and so it's
just incredibly fast. There's no competition for those units. We're
really helping to make that match between a landlord who
(05:00):
needs to fill the unit with a tenant who needs
a place to live.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
And when you're talking about a match, you're talking about
family size, all those sorts of things.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yes, So when a tenant comes to us or a
future tenant who's in a family in shelter, they tell
us they want to live in the Bronx, they want
a two bedroom, we help them find a place. We
might have two or three units that meet their requirements.
We will go with them to the unit. So we
have a team of experts who really accompany tenants and
explain to them what the process is and when we
(05:31):
show them the units, they then get to see the unit.
We also explain all the financial obligations that are involved
with that, and then once they select the unit, we
support them in putting together all the paperwork that's needed
from both the landlord and the tenant side to really
again ease the burden on both parties in the getting
that voucher approved.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Our guest is Laura Lazarus. She is co founder of
Anthos Home. She previously served as Chief operating officer of Teleu,
this corporation which plans, finances, and creates urban communities comprehensive
revitalization efforts that focus on affordable home ownership opportunities and
mixed income rental strategies. You can find out more about
Anthos Home at anthoshome dot org. You're listening to get
(06:15):
connected on one oh six point seven light FM. Imina
del Rio, I would assume some of your prior experience
working in housing was part of the inspiration for this model,
But did you see other cities also doing this?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Well? Yes, I mean, as you mentioned, I've spent my
entire career in affordable housing, and I think as you
and your listeners understand, without a home, it's really difficult
to do anything to figure out your next employment opportunity,
to focus on your education, focus on your healthcare. So
those are the things that are just without a home,
(06:51):
you can't do any of those things. As Leslie and
I were figuring out what we should how we could
combat this problem which we were seeing, especially after the
pandemic when a lot of young adults, for example, were
being given vouchers but they were unable to find a home.
We were looking around the country for other models because
(07:12):
New York City did not have a model that was
in place that kind of addressed this issue, and we
landed on Brilliant Corners in California, which is a model
that operates out of LA and other parts of California.
And there's another group in Dallas called Housing Forward which
also does this banking, but in New York City, we
are the only organization that sets aside units reserves them
(07:36):
for future tenants to really help ease that process. The
flex pool funding is also very important as a part
of this model because it means that we're very nimble
and flexible in terms of really doing whatever it takes
to help move a family into permanent housing. The flexible
pool is used for modest repairs that can help make
(07:57):
sure a unit can pass inspection, also used for moving costs,
furniture application fees, kind of whatever might be needed to
make sure that that move can happen quickly and then
once a tenant moves in. That's another unique aspect of
our model is we provide long term support to make
sure that it is a successful placement, and those flexible
(08:19):
funds can be used for things like if there is
the tenant has a health emergency and they aren't able
to pay the rent that month, If for example, the
government payment doesn't happen, we can come in and pay
that amount of money while we sort out with the
government what is going on, because again we have these
relationships experts within the government to help resolve these issues.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Where does the flexpool funding come from.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
So it is a mix of philanthropy and government funding.
We have a fantastic partnership with a number of foundations
in New York and elsewhere. And then in addition, we
have a wonderful partnership with New York City's Administration for
Children's Services where we work closely with them to help
house young adults aging out of foster care, as well
(09:04):
as families who are involved in the child welfare system
who are currently living in shelter.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
The funding that you're using to fix up homes to
get them ready to work with the landlord, what kind
of financial commitment are you talking about.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
These are modest repairs. They are usually between twenty five
hundred and forty five hundred dollars. Again, we're flexible, and
often the landlords are doing the repairs themselves. It's just
that because we're providing other supports, they're participating in the program.
We see for the units that we're working with throughout
New York City, about ninety five percent of them needs
(09:42):
some kind of improvement to pass this inspection requirement. Things
like an outlet might not be working, a window lock
is not functioning, there might be some paint needed. It's
very modest, and so by intervening by us kind of
helping them provide some support when they need it, we're
just bringing more unit and encouraging more people to rent.
(10:02):
People with vouchers.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
It really really are modest costs when you think about
what the average homeowner spends to keep their own place
in shape. I want to point out again a couple
of the stats Anthos Home. You've cut down on the
time voucher holders need to wait before finding and housing
from two years to about two months, and since June
twenty twenty three, Anthos Home has moved over one hundred
(10:24):
and fifty families into permanent housing with a one hundred
percent retention rate after twelve months. Is this a model
that is being picked up by other organizations that work
with this population. It seems like it's a game changer
on some level.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I mean, we like to think that we're still in
the early stages. It's a you know, we think it's
in a very effective approach. Like you said, it takes
us just a few months to help move a family
into permanent housing, and in contrast, you have families in
shelter for more than two years on average. And so
I think we're trying to build out the infrastructure to
(11:03):
be able to work with more populations, particularly vulnerable populations
that have difficulty finding housing. So older adults, veterans can be,
people coming out of incarceration. These are all kind of
the different populations that we think could benefit from this.
And we also think that this can work with all
the variety of different kinds of vouchers that are out there.
(11:26):
And it's really exciting on the landlord side because they
really want to kind of get this kind of support.
They need somebody to be able to contact the government
for them. They need somebody who can really deal with
the problems so they don't have to do that and
then they can just focus on being property managers. So
we're looking at expanding in New York and we hope
(11:47):
to serve about four hundred to five hundred households this year,
and then we also would love to expand elsewhere. We
think it's a model that can work in other places
in the country as well.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
This is also kind of making me think of that
question that a lot of people would ask, is this
something perhaps that could create more housing. Could you find
landlords who would be interested in converting a hotel or
office space something like that.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
I mean, I think it's possible. I mean, I think
they have to figure out their costs. But I think
that we are seeing landlords who, now it is the
law that they must rent to people with vouchers, but
the idea is to encourage them to proactively engage, and
that's what we're seeing. So we start off, usually with
just one or two units that we work with a landlord,
(12:34):
and then they're coming back to us and they're saying, oh,
we love this process. You're bringing us tenants. You know,
you're helping with all of our paperwork. You know, you're
helping sort out a payment issue, for example. And so
they come and they bring us additional units as they
start working with us. We kind of have a trial
period with landlords and then we see that they enjoy
this process, they think it's a positive for them, and
(12:56):
so we see them as repeat customers and we see
this as an exp of kind of the housing stock
that's available to this you know, population and need.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
What would you like listeners to take away from this
conversation and how can people get involved in supporting what
you do?
Speaker 3 (13:12):
So you know, we love the work that we're doing
and think we're having a great impact. If any of
your listeners are landlords or property owners or brokers, you know,
we would love for them to reach out to us
because we have opportunities to partner. We're always looking for
additional partners. I think it's just understanding that there are
(13:33):
ways to change the system and that government can be
a great partner in this and we are finding that
as well, that there are just ways to make things
easier and faster and more efficient if with just a
little flexibility.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Our guest is Laura Lazarus, co founder and CEO of
Anthos Home. You can find out more at anthoshome dot org.
Laura Lazarus, thank you for being on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Has been get connected with Nina del Rio on one
oh six point seven light Fm. The views and opinions
of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of
the station. If you missed any part of our show
or want to share it, visit our website for downloads
and podcasts at one oh six seven lightfm dot com.
Thanks for listening.
Welcome to get connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven Light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Thanks for listening to get connected. Like other cities, New
York has a growing crisis of homelessness and a systemic
challenge for both people in need and landlords to work
with housing vouchures. Our guest is Laura Lazarus, co founder
of Anthos Home, which works to make every step of
the voucher process easier and attract more participating landlords. Laura Lazarus,
(00:36):
thank you for being on to get connected.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Laura Lazarus has more than thirty years of experience in
New York City's affordable housing world as both a developer
and a leader in the nonprofit and government sectors. You
can find out more about the organization at anthoshome dot org. Laura,
a little bit of a just definition of what we're
talking about for people who aren't familiar. How are are
federally funded vouchers subsidies designed to work?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
So these vouchers, they're called housing vouchers or rental subsidy vouchers.
The way they work is that a family who is
low income or a person who is low income, the
subsidy comes in to help them afford a reasonable rent.
So if they make very little money, then the government
(01:25):
will pay the difference between what they can afford, which
ideally is thirty percent of their income, and what the
rent is expected to be paid to the landlord. So
they're coming in as a gap filler. And it's not
just federal subsidies. Just so you know that we work
with We work with their subsidies that are provided by
the city and the state in New York. So housing
(01:46):
vouchers are available from all different sources, but they all
work the same way.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
And why have they been so difficult for prospective tenants
to use?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
So let me just back up. The housing voucher itself
is an amazing toime tool when it is effectively used,
and so if a household is able to find a unit,
they are able to stay stably housed for a very
long time because it's such an incredible resource. But the
problem is that they are difficult to use. Nationally, forty
percent of people are unable to use a voucher, and
(02:18):
in New York City it takes a family on average
more than two years to find a unit with a voucher,
if they can find one at all. And the reason
that they're so difficult to use is that the vouchers
themselves are very complex. They are difficult for landlords to administer.
They have landlords have to wait for processing by the government.
(02:41):
Tenants don't necessarily know how to use them. Tenants are
often competing for a lot of units out there in
the city. In New York City, for example, there's a
one point four percent vacancy rate, so they're competing with
a lot of different people. And also, the vouchers require
a certain level of quality in the unit, and some
landlord don't want to necessarily make those improvements. And so
(03:04):
we've created a program that's designed to try and help
address some of these obstacles that make it difficult to
use vouchers.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yes, so you and your partner, Leslie Abbey, found at
Anthos Home in twenty twenty two. She is CEO of
Hot Bread Kitchen, which we've actually featured on this show
in the past. What together did you see that you
could fix?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
So we decided that really focusing on the match between
the person who's in shelter and the landlord was really
what could be solved that we could come up with
a way in which somebody who's in shelter could find
housing quickly, efficiently, and we could also help the landlord
make it much easier for them. So the idea is
(03:46):
that through a partnership with government, with nonprofits, with the
future tenants, and with landlords and property owners, we could
really address this situation. And it's really focused on providing
a dish supports and services to expedite that move from
shelter into permanent housing and make it as easy as possible.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
One of the ways you're doing this is through what
you're calling banking units. That a system that's really been
a game changer. How does that work? So?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yes. So one of the things that we do is
we have a flexible pool of funds and that allows
us to develop relationships with landlords and owners and property
providers throughout New York City, and we work with those
owners to reserve units so that they are available for
future tenants. So tenants, people who are living in shelter
(04:37):
come to us and we are able to take them
to a unit. Within a week or two, they can
select that unit. We will present the unit the person
to the landlord, they can review them, but ideally there's
a match within a couple of weeks, and so it's
just incredibly fast. There's no competition for those units. We're
really helping to make that match between a landlord who
(05:00):
needs to fill the unit with a tenant who needs
a place to live.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
And when you're talking about a match, you're talking about
family size, all those sorts of things.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yes, So when a tenant comes to us or a
future tenant who's in a family in shelter, they tell
us they want to live in the Bronx, they want
a two bedroom, we help them find a place. We
might have two or three units that meet their requirements.
We will go with them to the unit. So we
have a team of experts who really accompany tenants and
explain to them what the process is and when we
(05:31):
show them the units, they then get to see the unit.
We also explain all the financial obligations that are involved
with that, and then once they select the unit, we
support them in putting together all the paperwork that's needed
from both the landlord and the tenant side to really
again ease the burden on both parties in the getting
that voucher approved.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Our guest is Laura Lazarus. She is co founder of
Anthos Home. She previously served as Chief operating officer of Teleu,
this corporation which plans, finances, and creates urban communities comprehensive
revitalization efforts that focus on affordable home ownership opportunities and
mixed income rental strategies. You can find out more about
Anthos Home at anthoshome dot org. You're listening to get
(06:15):
connected on one oh six point seven light FM. Imina
del Rio, I would assume some of your prior experience
working in housing was part of the inspiration for this model,
But did you see other cities also doing this?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Well? Yes, I mean, as you mentioned, I've spent my
entire career in affordable housing, and I think as you
and your listeners understand, without a home, it's really difficult
to do anything to figure out your next employment opportunity,
to focus on your education, focus on your healthcare. So
those are the things that are just without a home,
(06:51):
you can't do any of those things. As Leslie and
I were figuring out what we should how we could
combat this problem which we were seeing, especially after the
pandemic when a lot of young adults, for example, were
being given vouchers but they were unable to find a home.
We were looking around the country for other models because
(07:12):
New York City did not have a model that was
in place that kind of addressed this issue, and we
landed on Brilliant Corners in California, which is a model
that operates out of LA and other parts of California.
And there's another group in Dallas called Housing Forward which
also does this banking, but in New York City, we
are the only organization that sets aside units reserves them
(07:36):
for future tenants to really help ease that process. The
flex pool funding is also very important as a part
of this model because it means that we're very nimble
and flexible in terms of really doing whatever it takes
to help move a family into permanent housing. The flexible
pool is used for modest repairs that can help make
(07:57):
sure a unit can pass inspection, also used for moving costs,
furniture application fees, kind of whatever might be needed to
make sure that that move can happen quickly and then
once a tenant moves in. That's another unique aspect of
our model is we provide long term support to make
sure that it is a successful placement, and those flexible
(08:19):
funds can be used for things like if there is
the tenant has a health emergency and they aren't able
to pay the rent that month, If for example, the
government payment doesn't happen, we can come in and pay
that amount of money while we sort out with the
government what is going on, because again we have these
relationships experts within the government to help resolve these issues.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Where does the flexpool funding come from.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
So it is a mix of philanthropy and government funding.
We have a fantastic partnership with a number of foundations
in New York and elsewhere. And then in addition, we
have a wonderful partnership with New York City's Administration for
Children's Services where we work closely with them to help
house young adults aging out of foster care, as well
(09:04):
as families who are involved in the child welfare system
who are currently living in shelter.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
The funding that you're using to fix up homes to
get them ready to work with the landlord, what kind
of financial commitment are you talking about.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
These are modest repairs. They are usually between twenty five
hundred and forty five hundred dollars. Again, we're flexible, and
often the landlords are doing the repairs themselves. It's just
that because we're providing other supports, they're participating in the program.
We see for the units that we're working with throughout
New York City, about ninety five percent of them needs
(09:42):
some kind of improvement to pass this inspection requirement. Things
like an outlet might not be working, a window lock
is not functioning, there might be some paint needed. It's
very modest, and so by intervening by us kind of
helping them provide some support when they need it, we're
just bringing more unit and encouraging more people to rent.
(10:02):
People with vouchers.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
It really really are modest costs when you think about
what the average homeowner spends to keep their own place
in shape. I want to point out again a couple
of the stats Anthos Home. You've cut down on the
time voucher holders need to wait before finding and housing
from two years to about two months, and since June
twenty twenty three, Anthos Home has moved over one hundred
(10:24):
and fifty families into permanent housing with a one hundred
percent retention rate after twelve months. Is this a model
that is being picked up by other organizations that work
with this population. It seems like it's a game changer
on some level.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I mean, we like to think that we're still in
the early stages. It's a you know, we think it's
in a very effective approach. Like you said, it takes
us just a few months to help move a family
into permanent housing, and in contrast, you have families in
shelter for more than two years on average. And so
I think we're trying to build out the infrastructure to
(11:03):
be able to work with more populations, particularly vulnerable populations
that have difficulty finding housing. So older adults, veterans can be,
people coming out of incarceration. These are all kind of
the different populations that we think could benefit from this.
And we also think that this can work with all
the variety of different kinds of vouchers that are out there.
(11:26):
And it's really exciting on the landlord side because they
really want to kind of get this kind of support.
They need somebody to be able to contact the government
for them. They need somebody who can really deal with
the problems so they don't have to do that and
then they can just focus on being property managers. So
we're looking at expanding in New York and we hope
(11:47):
to serve about four hundred to five hundred households this year,
and then we also would love to expand elsewhere. We
think it's a model that can work in other places
in the country as well.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
This is also kind of making me think of that
question that a lot of people would ask, is this
something perhaps that could create more housing. Could you find
landlords who would be interested in converting a hotel or
office space something like that.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
I mean, I think it's possible. I mean, I think
they have to figure out their costs. But I think
that we are seeing landlords who, now it is the
law that they must rent to people with vouchers, but
the idea is to encourage them to proactively engage, and
that's what we're seeing. So we start off, usually with
just one or two units that we work with a landlord,
(12:34):
and then they're coming back to us and they're saying, oh,
we love this process. You're bringing us tenants. You know,
you're helping with all of our paperwork. You know, you're
helping sort out a payment issue, for example. And so
they come and they bring us additional units as they
start working with us. We kind of have a trial
period with landlords and then we see that they enjoy
this process, they think it's a positive for them, and
(12:56):
so we see them as repeat customers and we see
this as an exp of kind of the housing stock
that's available to this you know, population and need.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
What would you like listeners to take away from this
conversation and how can people get involved in supporting what
you do?
Speaker 3 (13:12):
So you know, we love the work that we're doing
and think we're having a great impact. If any of
your listeners are landlords or property owners or brokers, you know,
we would love for them to reach out to us
because we have opportunities to partner. We're always looking for
additional partners. I think it's just understanding that there are
(13:33):
ways to change the system and that government can be
a great partner in this and we are finding that
as well, that there are just ways to make things
easier and faster and more efficient if with just a
little flexibility.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Our guest is Laura Lazarus, co founder and CEO of
Anthos Home. You can find out more at anthoshome dot org.
Laura Lazarus, thank you for being on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Has been get connected with Nina del Rio on one
oh six point seven light Fm. The views and opinions
of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of
the station. If you missed any part of our show
or want to share it, visit our website for downloads
and podcasts at one oh six seven lightfm dot com.
Thanks for listening.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com