Institute for Community Living Provides a New Path to Permanent Housing in 30 Days

As New York City's homelessness crisis persists, the non-profit Institute for Community Living has launched a first-of-its-kind program to provide a new path to permanent housing for people with histories of homelessness. Our guest is Jose Cotto, Senior Vice President of Residential Treatment at ICL, to discuss "Changing Spaces.” ICL helps New Yorkers with behavioral health challenges live healthy and fulfilling lives by providing comprehensive housing, healthcare, and recovery services, serving more than 12,000 people every year in 128 programs across the five boroughs. For more, visit iclinc.org.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Welcome to get connected with Nina delRio, a weekly conversation about fitness,
health and happenings in our community onone oh six point seven Light FM.
Good morning, and thanks for listeningto get connected. As New York City's
homelessness crisis has grown in recent years, the nonprofit ICL has launched a first
of its kind program to provide anew path to permanent housing for people with

(00:26):
histories of homelessness. Our guest isJose Coto, Senior vice president of Residential
Treatment at the Institute for Community Living, to discuss changing spaces. Jose Coto,
thank you for being on the show. Thank you for having me.
Nice to meet you here. Youcan find out more at ICLNC dot org.
ICL helps New Yorkers with behavioral healthchallenges live healthy and fulfilling lives by

(00:51):
providing comprehensive housing, healthcare, andrecovery services, serving more than twelve thousand
people every year in one hundred andtwenty eight programs across the ive. Borrows
Jose, that's a lot of programs. ICL offers all kinds of programs.
I wonder if you could just giveus a brief overview of what the work
is on the ground every day atICL. What does the organization do best,
do you think and what makes itunique? Yeah, no, I'd

(01:15):
love to and actually some of thosenumbers we've increased. So ICL is a
large baby health agency here in NewYork City. We've been around since nineteen
eighty six. Our aim is toreduce health disparities amongst all New Yorkers by
focusing on their whole health. Andwhat that looks like is for us,
we have one hundred and forty programsnow and we're able to address different social

(01:37):
determinants of health because of all thoseprograms, and that ranges from mental health
clinics, school based programs, carecoordination, the list goes on, and
then housing and because for us,housing is healthcare. So we offer more
than two thy five hundred beds andthose consists of community residences where folks have

(01:57):
on site twenty four to seven careand support, to permanent supported housing where
people are living out in the communityindependently and thriving. So how do the
people that you work with, whoare they and how do they come into
your orbit? A lot of ourfolks come from shelters, street homelessness,
state psychiatric beds, incarceration, youthaging out of foster care. Those are

(02:23):
where most of our folks are comingfrom when they walk them through one of
our doors at any of our multiplesites. So ICL launched Changing Spaces a
year ago, another program, andI wonder how was it different from the
other programs that you had regarding homelessness. What gap or need does it address.
There's a few things that make ChangingSpaces very special and in some ways

(02:46):
magical. And I'm not just sayingthat because I created it, ah,
but it's so. It's a partnership. It's a joint effort to end homelessness.
It's a partnership with the State Officeof Mental Health and us ICL.
We are targeting folks that our streethomeless and bringing them directly into our space
and then finding them housing within thirtydays. That thirty day goal is already

(03:07):
very unique, along with some otherthings, so when people first come in,
the culture is very different. Inthis program. It has a beach
theme. We have beach chairs,tents, we're literally a block or two
away from the beach. We havea wellness zen room filled with a fish
tank, yoga mats, poofs,inspirational artwork. We have a clothing boutique

(03:30):
where people when they first arrive theyare able to go there. There's a
full length era clothes, slippers,rows. We want people to feel dignified
and empowered. We have a computerlab so that folks can freshen up on
their tech skills, look for employment, expand their social network, you know,
whatever the needs are. And thenwe also have a cafe corner.

(03:53):
New York cafes could be a littleexpensive and some of our folks might not
feel very welcomed and those so we'vecreated a cafe corner within this program just
to normalize things and increase dialogue.The staffing pattern is also unique for changing
spaces. Half of our staff arepure specialists, So these are folks who

(04:14):
lived experience, whether it's with mentalillness, incarceration, state psychiatric hospitals,
homelessness. These folks with that experienceare able to expedite that relationship building so
that people can feel welcomed and atease and focus on those necessary next steps.
For say, housing, I haveseen photos of it. I mean,
it's a lovely little space and there'sactually some rooms that have double beds.

(04:35):
I wonder community is probably a partof this too. Absolutely. I
still remember we had one person walkin. He stayed with us for a
few hours for whatever reason, hedidn't feel comfortable, so he left.
It was other guests staying there thatwent out engaged him and then brought him
back, and then obviously he wasplaced later on in housing. But it's

(04:57):
that sense of community that's so sostrong with both staff and the guests there
that just also make it super superspecial. I mean, we have folks
leave get housing and then they comeback for Sunday dinner, they come back
to celebrate different cultural celebrations. It'sjust a really strong sense of family.
Almost Our guest is Jose Coto.He's senior vice president of Residential Treatment at

(05:19):
the Institute for Community Living. We'retalking about changing spaces. Jose kto oversees
more than twenty residential program serving sevenhundred people, focusing on integrating whole health
care and ways that make it easierfor clients to live successful, independent lives.
Jose was a psychiatric social worker atthe Child Center of New York.
He's currently on the social work facultyof both NYU and Yukon and is a

(05:42):
licensed clinical social worker. This isGet Connected. You're listening to one ZO
six point seven light FM. I'mMina del Riel. Just to give a
scope before we talk a little bitmore about the program Jose, to give
a scope of homelessness in New YorkCity. On the periphery. Folks might
imagine it's mostly men. It's mostlypeople with mental health challenges, and most
often men of color. How closeis that perception to reality? Who needs

(06:04):
the most? Everybody needs it,but who needs the most attention and assistance?
Sort of, just as a demographic, a lot of folks, especially
because of the pandemic, a lotof symptoms were exacerbated. I think everyone
because of the pandemic could relate tomental illness and mental health and see how
it needs to prioritize. Homelessness asa whole has increased nationwide, so it's

(06:28):
definitely still a big issue, andwe are seeing that a lot of our
folks are people of color coming frommarginalized communities. I mean, not too
long ago, the stats showed thatwhen it came to youth LGBTQIA plus youth,
while they were making up seven percentof all youth nationwide, they were
making up forty percent of those thatwere homeless, that were living on the

(06:50):
street for various reasons. So we'reseeing a lot of people that historically have
been marginalized, including people of color, Black African American and followed by Latina
and then of course LGBTQIA plus folks. So this program changing Spaces, as
you say, is designed to helppeople find housing in thirty days. Some

(07:10):
people are going to be better candidatesfor that than others. Some people might
have bigger mental health challenges, thosesorts of things. This program itself is,
as I read, kind of aneverything and anything approach, right,
you'll give people exactly what they're lookingfor. What seems to be in the
year that you've been operating this program, what's kind of the typical thing that

(07:30):
the people who are in this particularprogram need that has been expected and also
unexpected. I think from what we'vegathered over the last year, folks need
a sense of connection and belonging andthey're able to achieve that there and obviously
once they leave, they still havethose connections to continue expanding that social support.
So reducing that sense of isolation andthe low self esteem that folks might

(07:54):
have living on the street, Itis still surprising how many folks are not
connected to benefits so have no sourceof income, including food stamps, and
we obviously help them with that atthis program. And I would just say
another surprising element is how many folksstay street homeless because they don't feel safe

(08:16):
anywhere else and they've been able tocreate some kind of community where they're street
homeless. So for us, it'sabout showing a more appealing side and really
focusing on that trust. Building thattrust so I think could give us a
chance and then move forward and notfeel stagnant in their life. When it
comes to housing, which is obviouslya critical need for everyone. Housing right,

(08:39):
housing is a whole thing in itself. We have a housing affordability crisis,
we have a migrant crisis. Howdo those things factor into challenges for
finding housing for the people who havedeparted the program? So for us,
someone can come to us without anyidea or benefits, including insurance or documentation

(09:01):
if they're undocumented. It is moredifficult because of the way that the system
is currently set up. But thereare some programs that have been created over
the last year that can assist.So, for instance, there's low barrier
housing that was created by a stateOffice of Mental Health. There were three
hundred beds created over the last yearamongst six I believe it was six agencies.

(09:22):
Folks don't need to be documented orhave the citizenship citizenship status to qualify
for that housing, so we areable to place some folks there through that
and then help them find some kindof income so that it's not a setup
for failure. And we do thatby bringing people to job fairers and you

(09:43):
know, exploring all types of vocations. So that's one way that we try
to address, for instance, thatmigrant crisis. We also did convert a
few of our shelters to accommodate migrantsand families, so that's another effort to
try and keep people off the street. Can you talk a little bit more
about finding work. If someone isable to work, they're able bodied in

(10:03):
their own an age where they wouldstill be working, how that's part of
the equation as well of getting someoneon their feet. Yes, So within
those thirty days with us, we'reworking on, as you mentioned, a
lot of different things. As longas it's a need for that person,
they're willing to partner with us onit. We do have a van so
with that van, we'll bring peopleto job fares and again even if they

(10:24):
want to look for employment within ICL, they're more than open to do that.
They're more than welcome to do that. So yeah, we help with
resume building, mock interviews. Obviously, we could provide clothing. We could
take a shop online and we'll orderthe clothes to their preference. And the
work that we find folks can rangefrom. We had one person that became

(10:46):
a chef at a restaurant and anotherperson working in a fast food restaurant,
so it could range depending on theskills and there what's most appealing to them.
Thirty days is pretty amazing. Theidea that you can take someone from
street homelessness to being on their feedand you know, contributing and feeling good
about themselves in thirty days, whichkind of tells you, you know,

(11:07):
if the opportunity is there, whyaren't we doing it more often? Yes,
so this is a pilot program,but even when it first opened up,
the State Office and Mental Health,which funds US, they did put
an RFP out for I believe it'sfive or six more of these models up
to fifteen beds, and so Iknow those agencies have been working through the

(11:30):
year that we're selected. I've beenworking to open up similar programs and we're
seeing more and more RFPs go outwith similar setups of changing spaces. So
I think the word is getting outthere and people are trying to really capitalize
on that and make more of thesetypes of programs that really just focus on
everything and everything, anything and everythingwithin that short amount of time so that

(11:52):
we could end homelessness eventually. Soas far as I understand, the program
to date has served thirty seven guests, seven of whom are still living at
the residents and twenty five who havetransitioned in the community. Hose can you
think of someone whose departure has beenparticularly gratifying. There's been a few.
One comes to mind. Well whenit comes to ages. We've had people

(12:15):
from eighteen to seventy seven so far, and we've had a couple young young
adults where for instance, that eighteenyear old that I have in mind,
he was living with his aunt,but he was also struggling with schizophrenia,
bipolar and delusional disorder. The symptomswere becoming overwhelming for the aunt, so
he ended up in a shelter atthe shelter due to his delusional disorder,

(12:37):
he thought people were after him andpoisoning him, so he ended up between
hospital bench and trains. The SOSteam, the Safe Option Support Team connected
with him and brought him over tous. Once he was with us,
we were able to build that relationshipquickly, work on all these different aspects,
all these different social determinants of health, and get him housed within thirty

(13:00):
days. So now he's in hisown private studio apartment and still has a
support of staff and comes to visitus every so often. Another person as
an the seventy seven year old woman. She came over to us. She
had a history of chronic homelessness.With our program, we were able to
connect her with family, and longstory short, she moved down south to

(13:22):
live with her daughter and send somequality time there. What would you want
the public to take away from thisconversation, especially, I feel like this
topic doesn't address their daily life,doesn't impact their daily life. I would
want folks to really receive the messagethat homelessness is a social problem that we
all have to take ownership for.I want people to understand that housing is

(13:46):
healthcare, It's a basic need anda lot of folks require housing to be
able to focus on other parts oftheir health and their whole health. And
when we're referring to whole health,we're thinking about financial life, we're thinking
about nutrition, we're thinking about vocationand employment and education, and all folks

(14:07):
deserve the right to progress in thoseareas, but they really need housing first.
And I would love folks to givemore opportunities to programs like Changing Spaces,
where we're showing you data that folksthat are street homelessness, chronically homeless,
with histories of trauma where systems havenot worked out for them, we're
working with those folks and getting themsuccessfully and safely placed in housing. So

(14:31):
I think the live lives just likeany of us, and apartments just like
any of us. So just reallygiving people a chance and reducing that stigma.
Jose Koto is senior vice president ofResidential Treatment at the Institute for Community
Living. You can find out moreat ic l I NC dot org.
Jose, thank you for being onto Get Connected. Thank you. This

(14:52):
has been Get Connected with Nina delRio on one O six point seven light
FM. The views and opinions ofour guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missedany part of our show or want to
share it, visit our website fordownloads and podcasts at one O six seven
lightfm dot com. Thanks for listening.