Supportive housing is booming in the Bronx

The city has added more supportive housing in the Bronx over the past decade than in other boroughs, according to data from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

New York City has created about 2,500 supportive housing units in the Bronx since 2005. Such housing provides shelter to the homeless, recovering addicts, the mentally disabled and others who need help living independently.

The Bronx total far exceeds the 1,711 supportive housing units added in Manhattan in the past ten years, as well as the 1,644 units added in Brooklyn, DNAinfo reported. Queens and Staten Island lag far behind with just 52 units and 19 units added over the last decade, respectively.

Some Bronx community board members told DNAinfo that the city should more evenly distribute the housing.

The additions, however, come off a low base relative to Manhattan, according to HPD. Manhattan has added 8,283 units since 1985, while the Bronx created 4,655.

New Destiny Housing says finding an appropriate location for supportive housing comes down to pricing. Joan Beck, the group’s director of housing development, told DNAinfo that New Destiny is having a hard time finding its target rate of $40 per square foot in neighborhoods like Bedford-Stuyvesant. It’s possible to find that rate in the Bronx, she says.

The Supportive Housing Network of New York is calling on the city to build 30,000 new units of supportive housing. [DNAinfo] – Tom DiChristopher