Homeless no more, residents are grateful for housing

Rooms at the Edith MacGuire Residence may not be large, but they offer everything a person needs to start a new life. Photo by Karsten Moran

A Press news analysis

By Aliza Appelbaum

More than 100 residents of Cannon Place made their voices heard at a community board meeting in December, expressing their displeasure at the idea of an apartment house catering to formerly homeless individuals on their block. Most the proposed residents would be recovering drug addicts or suffer from mental illness. Objections have largely focused on the size of the facility, proposed to be 90 units, which many say is too large for the community to absorb.

But how does a facility like the one proposed really affect a neighborhood? A similar development not far from Riverdale and Kingsbridge may offer some answers.

Since 2007, Eugenio Acosta has taken his two children to the circus and thrown them birthday parties. He has planted flowers in his garden, survived cancer and plans to finish his accounting degree and maybe branch out into computer technology.

Mr. Acosta, a Navy veteran with a record for cocaine possession, used to be homeless, but said he’s gotten his life back on track thanks to the Edith MacGuire Residence, a supportive housing facility in Morris Heights run by The Jericho Project.

“I don’t think I’d have the freedom to do the things I do if I was living somewhere else,” said Mr. Acosta, 51, who spent most of his life in the neighboring Mount Hope area.

Now he makes his home at Mac- Guire, a facility similar to the controversial one proposed for Cannon Place. MacGuire has 80 units, of which about 48 go to formerly homeless individuals suffering from substance abuse issues or mental illness, and about 36 are designated as low-income housing for individuals from the neighborhood. Space is only available for single residents.

The Cannon Place facility would have a similar breakdown of living arrangements, but would be run by a different group, Urban Pathways.

To live at a supportive housing facility like this, residents “must be stable and free of substance,” said Julia Carr-Ellis, director of the MacGuire Residence.

“The people who live here are committed to sobriety,” she said.

There was initial resistance from Community Board 5, in which the residence is located, said Victoria Lyon, executive director of the Jericho Project.

“They voted the project down twice,” Ms. Lyon said. “They fought us the whole time. And now they love us. We improved the neighborhood.”

“It was just too many of [The Jericho Project’s] facilities in our community,” said Xavier Rodriguez, district manager for CB 5. “You have to put up with the city’s share of facilities, the state’s share. You reach a point where enough is enough.”

But, said Mr. Rodriguez, though CB 5 initially voted down the proposal, its members don’t harbor any ill will or resentment towards the facility or its inhabitants.

“We look to work with the organizations within our district. We try to make sure they are good neighbors, and when they’re not, we call them on it,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “These facilities can also do a lot of good for a neighborhood and … can enhance property values.”

The MacGuire facility replaced a vacant lot where drug deals often occurred, Ms. Lyon said. The proposed location for the Cannon Place facility is also a vacant lot, though one that is considered difficult to build on because it is situated on a rocky slope.

“The lots we get are not the toniest lots,” said Cynthia Stuart, communications director for the Supportive Housing Network of New York. “They’re hard to build on or they’re in an unsafe area.”

Despite the worries of some Cannon Place residents that the units set aside for lowincome individuals would not be desirable, there is already a high demand for affordable housing, Ms. Stuart said.

“There are wait lists for places exactly like this,” including MacGuire, she said. The typical length of stay at these facilities for the formerly homeless is about five-anda- half years, Ms. Stuart said, noting that people move out for many reasons, including to get married, to be reunited with family, to find a larger apartment, or just because they no longer require the special services.

Additionally, the formerly homeless people at the Cannon Place facility would not be “shipped in” from across the city, Ms. Stuart said. Many of the people living there would be from the Bronx.

“They wanted to send me to Alphabet City, but everything I have is here,” Mr. Acosta said. He lobbied to stay in the Bronx primarily to remain near his children, ages 13 and 15, who are currently living nearby with their mother, he said.

He is still able to see his children every weekend, he said, and they often spend the night at MacGuire with him. Residents there are allowed to have overnight guests.

The rooms at MacGuire are cozy, and all are single residences. Each one has a bed, a small kitchenette that comes with some plates, silverware and pans, a closet, some other varied furniture — a dresser, a chair — and some other basic necessities.

“They get everything they need to make a fresh start,” Ms. Carr-Ellis said. “A lot of them come from the shelters with nothing.”

The lobby is welcoming, and either end is hung with cheerful art in vibrant hues. The floor is tiled with alternating bright blues, gleaming reds and cheerful yellows. There is a spacious group room with a flat-screen TV and puffy, striped couches, as well as an outdoor patio and garden with benches and flowers that the residents plant themselves during the warmer months.

Most important to the residents is that they have a community to which they belong and a home to call their own, Ms. Lyon said.

“They get good jobs, they reunite with their families, and they accomplish a lot,” she said. “They follow the rules and are good neighbors because they would never do anything to jeopardize that.”

This is part of the January 14, 2010 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you. Click here.