Houses of Faith and Refugees
HIAS is helping synagogues sponsor refugees through their Welcome Circles program. The Welcome Circles are groups of people formed through synagogues that fund the incoming refugees and help them navigate living in a new place. Currently, HIAS has 114 circles in 26 states serving nearly 400 refugees.
Recognizing Faith Groups
New York City will be adding Diwali as an official school holiday to recognize the growing South Asian and Indo-Caribbean populations in the City. This year Diwali will be celebrated on November 12th.
Mayor Adams has established the city's first Jewish Advisory Council composed of 37 prominent leaders from the Jewish community across each borough and representing different denominations and organizations. The council aims to address issues affecting Jewish New Yorkers, including public safety, quality of life, and education, while ensuring that Jewish communities have access to the city's resources and services.
Affordable housing
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), and the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) have announced plans to develop approximately 200 affordable homes for older New Yorkers, including 60 for formerly homeless households and 35 for NYCHA residents in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.
The project will be developed by CAMBA Housing Ventures (CHV) on underutilized NYCHA land. Based on the community needs this development will also include:
Potential Budget Cuts
Homeless service providers are urging City Council members not to allow budget cuts to homeless services in New York City. Mayor Eric Adams' administration has asked agencies to reduce their budgets, leading the Department of Homeless Services to inform contractors of a 2.5% reduction in their allocations.
These potential budget cuts come amidst an increasing homeless shelter population and wait times for permanent housing taking seven months.
The Family Homelessness Coalition is making a last-minute effort to prevent these cuts from being included in the fiscal year 2024 city budget. Nonprofit leaders have also staged a sleepout near City Hall, advocating for pay increases and cost-of-living adjustments for nonprofit employees.
Preservation Efforts
Discussions continue over the future of West Park Presbyterian Church, which is facing financial difficulties and a deteriorating building and hopes to sell the property to a developer for luxury apartment construction. Celebrities like Mark Ruffalo, Wendell Pierce, Amy Schumer, and Common have joined the fight to save the church. The church’s congregation says preserving and fixing the church would cost more than $50 million and have applied to demolish the building and redevelop the site. This has met opposition from preservationists, who argue that it could set a dangerous precedent.
