Community Housing Innovations

Applications available this week for Minerva Place

Applications for CHI’s newest affordable housing condominium became available this week from the City of White Plains, as nearly 100 people attended a kickoff homebuyer seminar. The homes will be offered on a first come, first serve basis to 14 lucky buyers, with a preference for White Plains municipal, school district and retired workers. Don’t wait to apply to the City of White Plains Department of Planning.

Minerva Place on News 12

More information and an application:

Minerva Place Article from August 2008
Minerva Place Brochure (pdf)
Minerva Place Information (pdf)
Minerva Place Condominiums – Application (pdf)

CHI’s Minerva Place Condominiums is a finalist for the 2009 Super Nova Star of Energy Efficiency Award by the Alliance to Save Energy, headquartered in Washington, D.C. ASE is a nationally recognized non-profit coalition of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders (www.ase.org).

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Geoexchange on NBC-TV New York

Minerva's geoexchange system uses ClimateMaster

CHI Approved as a HUD Housing Counseling Agency

CHI on Channel 12

As CHI ramps up its Foreclosure Prevention Program, it received word this week that its application for status as a HUD Approved Housing Counseling Agency has been accepted. This will enable banks and other lenders to refer individuals facing foreclosure to the agency to help them negotiate loan modifications and other measures to stay in their homes. CHI’s free Foreclosure Prevention Program is headed by an attorney, Peter Spino, Esq., who has many years of experience negotiating for borrowers in real property cases. The New York Times covered a Spino seminar last week in Mount Vernon…

Foreclosure Crisis in Westchester Crosses Economic Boundaries, Published in The New York Times, May 14, 2009
By JOSEPH BERGER and JANET ROBERTS
The room was filled with people in trouble or about to be, and the fact that they were in the city’s public library was bitterly fitting. The library is on South First Avenue, a street that is the epicenter of Westchester’s foreclosure crisis, with at least 27 homes on just four blocks in various stages of foreclosure over the past several years... - READ MORE -

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On May 6, 2009, CHI’s Supervised Family Residence in Nassau County had guests. Two high school seniors from Mineola High School who chose the homeless shelter as a subject for their Senior Community Project. The primary purpose of their project was to do something to help the community. After watching a TV special and participating in a fundraising activity for victims of domestic violence, these two young men realized that families who are homeless may not have very much in the way of belongings that others take for granted. So, they decided they would like to help each family by providing them each with a framed photo of their family together.

The Clients were very excited and everyone made sure they would be available at the chosen time. They were particularly pleased that the pictures were to be ready in time for Mother’s Day. As the time neared, everyone showered and carefully chose their clothing. After the individual shots, several candids were made with everyone sitting together, clowning around and having fun for the camera. By Mother’s Day, everyone had a framed picture of their family to call their own. Families pictured here wanted to share their experience with you.

CHI Executive Director Alexander Roberts attended the Pete Seeger Birthday Concert this month at Madison Square Garden. Read his column about the folk singer and his extraordinary life in The Journal News…

Celebrating Seeger's enduring legacy
Published in The Journal News, BY ALEXANDER H. ROBERTS - MAY 9, 2009
The Pete Seeger concert earlier this week that sold out Madison Square Garden felt more like a reunion than a concert.

It celebrated the life of a man whose commercial success never included filling 20,000-seat stadiums. Yet he sold out in about an hour, helped along with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Emmylou Harris, Joan Baez and more than 30 other artists singing with him. The event was a benefit for the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, which Seeger had built 40 years ago in the belief that education would clean up the river. And it did.

It was Seeger's 90th birthday celebration, and, in a country that normally has these things after you die, especially gratifying. It also was a celebration of the triumph of the racial, environmental, feminist and political causes that drove the 1960s era, culminating in the election of Barack Obama. As Bruce Sprinsteen said, "Pete Seeger represents the power of song to nudge history. . . . Behind his grandfatherly appearance is a stubborn, defiant and nasty optimism." - READ MORE -

Community Housing Innovations (CHI) has started to use social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, to share information with clients, colleagues and industry professionals. So far, posts include links to recent New York Times and News 12 reports mentioning the non-profit and an event listing featuring an upcoming homebuyer seminar in June.

“We are on the front lines – addressing homelessness and creating affordable housing opportunities,” stated Alexander Roberts, Executive Director of Community Housing Innovations. “We want to use social media to connect with people who care about these issues, inform them about our efforts and learn more about their concerns.”

Facebook and Twitter are the first steps into social media for Community Housing Innovations. Future plans include a blog, featuring postings from CHI directors, and a more interactive website design.

NYS Approves $575,000 in Down Payment Assistance
for Long Island and Westchester
Attend the upcoming free seminars and apply now!

Click Here for Westchester and the Hudson Valley.
Click Here for Long Island.