Supporting affordable housing

Residents and staff from the Haven and Harbor attended a press conference at city hall last week to support continued funding for affordable housing. New York State Assembly Member Vito Lopez used the press conference to announce an initiative to create an “Empire State Housing Investment Fund.” Lopez requested $500 million in capital funding to be allotted in the 2010-2011budget and will introduce a bill to create the fund.

“The Housing Investment Fund will provide a permanent stream to fund affordable housing units. This fund is critical due to its flexibility, income targeting, and ability to support the creation of local housing trust funds,” said Lopez.

Representatives from Odyssey House were joined by a variety of housing advocacy groups in calling for support of the bill, including Habitat for Humanity, Community Access, the Real Rent Reform Campaign, Make the Road New York, the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness & Housing, and St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation.

Housing services are a critical part of the Odyssey House family of services. Affordable housing is key to reducing the costly societal impact of substance abuse and chronic homelessness. These extra resources go a long way in preventing individuals who have achieved a sustainable level of sobriety from losing the gains they made in treatment and ending up on the streets, in city shelters, or the criminal justice system.

Representatives from Odyssey House showed up to support the initiative.

Assembly Member Vito Lopez addressing the crowd.

New York Times publishes letter by Peter Provet

The New York Times today published a letter by Peter Provet, president of Odyssey House, questioning the use of heroin to treat heroin addiction. The letter can be found on page A22 in the print edition. Check it out and let us know what you think.

The New York Times
August 26, 2009
Letter
Battling to Be Drug-Free

To the Editor:

Re “Study Backs Heroin to Treat Addiction” (news article, Aug. 20):

The recently reported heroin research does a disservice to the thousands of heroin abusers who are battling to live drug-free and to gain control over their lives. To say that the “safest and most effective treatment for hard-core heroin addicts” is an injection of prescription heroin undermines the decades of success in becoming drug-free achieved by heroin abusers enrolled in long-term residential treatment programs.

It is misleading to suggest that the majority of people who are addicted to one of the world’s most dangerous narcotics can overcome their addiction through use of this drug — even in a controlled way. No treatment regimen is 100 percent effective, but drug-free, abstinence-based models have been proved to offer the best chance of a sustained recovery for hard-core drug abusers.

While we support research into heroin abuse and its treatments, and the use of methadone as a treatment option, future studies must include an abstinence-based treatment approach.

Peter Provet
New York, Aug. 24, 2009

Kym Hampton visits Odyssey House teens

Former WNBA player Kym Hampton came to the Teen Leadership Center last Thursday to spend time with teens in treatment at Odyssey House. Ms. Hampton, who played for the New York Liberty, spoke about her career and the importance of goal setting. She also invited them to a Liberty game the following day.

Serve.gov features the story of our playground build

As many of you know, we recently built a fantastic playground for the children of Family Re-Entry. What you may not know is that it rained more than 2 inches during the build! Serve.gov published the story of how we overcame the elements to make a dream come true for the kids on its “Stories of Service” blog.

Here’s an excerpt from the story, written by staff member Gary Harmon:

As the rain was pouring down continuously, the drain continued to back-up, and each time a group of volunteers would reform the “bucket brigade” and quickly lower the overflowing water level. It was quite a sight to see individuals from every background, from senior Odyssey House staff to community volunteers to Odyssey House clients, working side-by-side and hand-in-hand in the worst rain imaginable in order to construct the playground.

Click HERE to read the entire story.

Serve.gov is an online resource for finding volunteer opportunities. It is provided by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which was created in 1993 to connect Americans of all ages and backgrounds with opportunities to give back to their communities and their nation. The organization runs three programs: AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America.

Join Odyssey House on Facebook!

Odyssey House is now on Facebook! To become a fan, just click HERE or search for “Odyssey House Inc.” the next time you login. Once you become a fan, you’ll be able to join or start a discussion, receive updates from our blog, get information about events that you can forward to your friends and family members, and more.

We look forward to seeing you on Facebook!