The Need for Havens

A family of four living in NYC is struggling to stay afloat if they make less than $46,416 a year, which is 150% of NYC's poverty level.

Last year this included close to half - 47% - of NYC's population.

In fact, The Poverty Tracker Project has found that 37% of all New Yorkers suffer a severe material hardship where they regularly cannot afford adequate food, medical care, utilities or rent. These are hard-working New Yorkers too. City government figures show that approximately 2,000 households earning between $25,000 and $50,000 ended up in the city's homeless shelter system this year.

Today, these struggling New Yorkers are still unlikely to obtain timely financial help from government programs or large private charities, which often require multiple complex application forms and a lengthy approval process.

Through its Almoners, Havens is well-positioned to provide immediate emergency assistance to these New Yorkers. In fact, Almoners who have access to other emergency financial assistance funds often cite the immediacy and nimbleness of Havens as a core value-add to their poverty relief work.

Almoners reach all five boroughs. Although the challenges they identify vary, their charge is the same—to improve an individual's and/or family's well-being in a time of crisis. Beneficiaries include survivors of disasters making their home uninhabitable; families without income due to the incapacity of the primary breadwinner; New Yorkers needing help after unexpected job loss; immigrants and refugees; and children of incarcerated parents.

At critical moments, a Havens grant can build the spirits of recipients while meeting their basic needs and ending a crisis.

Said one mother for whom an Almoner paid a $325 overdue bill, "My ConEd bill was outrageous and I had run out of options. That's when you stepped in. You helped me keep the lights on in my house and in my heart and mind."