The NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) today announced a new Request For Proposals that will provide up to $1.6 million in annual funding for the operation of 100 supportive housing units in New York City and Long Island.

The RFP represents the fourth annual round of funding through OMH’s Transformation Plan, which reinvests savings from the consolidation of underutilized psychiatric hospital beds into effective community-based services.

OMH Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan said, “Safe, stable homes with support services play such an important role in our mission to help people living with mental illness recover and become independent and successful members of their community.  The RFP we issued today is another step forward in the Governor Cuomo’s efforts to give hope and support to our most vulnerable neighbors.” 

By expanding and enhancing community-based mental health services throughout New York, OMH is helping more individuals with mental illness get high quality, cost effective services when and where they need it. This in turn helps to avoid costly inpatient psychiatric stays, and achieve the "Triple Aim" of better care, better health and better lives for those whom we serve — at lower costs.

To date, OMH’s Transformation Plan has reinvested more than $96 million into community programs and housing, serving more than 40,000 additional individuals to date. The RFP augments the Governor’s $2.5 Billion plan to advance the construction and preservation of more than 110,000 units of affordable and 6,000 units of supportive housing over the next five years.

OMH’s latest RFP will fund 70 Scattered-Site Supportive Housing units in the New York City Region and 30 on Long Island.  Funding will be used for rent stipends and for case management services. Residents are required to pay 30 percent of their net income for rent and reasonable utilities.

Target populations include individuals who have a serious mental illness and are transitioning from hospitals or other residential settings, and could live more independently in the community with appropriate supports.

Proposals from not-for-profit housing agencies with experience serving individuals with serious mental illness will be due January 24, 2018. Contracts are anticipated to begin in July 2018.