More than 100,000 people are now sleeping in shelters each night, and many of the City’s lowest-income households are at risk of homelessness because they are paying more than 50 percent of their income in rent. New York City cannot escape this crisis without directly addressing the systemic failure to ensure that there is enough housing with rents affordable to the lowest income households. (Learn more about this issue here.)

That’s why OHI is part of the Homes for NYC coalition, pushing for the city to prioritize investing in deeply affordable housing—specifically for those who are currently homeless and extremely low-income households at imminent risk of homelessness. As a starting point, we’re asking the city to commit to prioritizing the creation of 12,000 units of deeply affordable housing each year for the next 5 years.

The New York City Council is having a housing budget hearing on Tuesday, March 24, and we’re mobilizing folks to show up and speak in support of the demand for deeply affordable housing.

• Sign up to testify in-person in downtown Manhattan on Tuesday 3/24 around 1pm

• Sign up to testify virtually on Tuesday 3/24 around 1pm

• Sign up to submit written testimony

Haven’t testified at a City Council hearing before? No worries—we’ll be there with you every step of the way, providing guidance on logistics and suggested talking points, and connecting you with other folks who are testifying, too.

I want to volunteer at the Free Store:

We need LOTS of volunteers on the day of the Free Store, including for shifts before and after the event. Sign up here

I want to donate items to the Free Store:

There are two ways to donate:

Drop off donations: We're looking for new or gently used winter clothing, hygiene supplies, and food pantry items. These items can be dropped off any time in Harlem or on the day of the store in Park Slope. You can also arrange a drop-off in Clinton Hill, East New York, or Manhattan. Sign up to donate here.

Donate to the paypal for hygiene supplies and snacks here!

On March 11, encampment sweeps restarted in New York City. Sweeps are harmful: they lead to people losing their belongings (including items that help them stay warm in the cold) and destroy trust with outreach workers. They’re also ineffective: as the Safety Net Project wrote in a powerful post, just 5% of folks displaced by sweeps during the previous administration accepted shelter placement, and even fewer stayed in shelter for more than a few days. (Curious why some folks might hesitate to enter shelters? We’d recommend reading this 2021 report from the Coalition for the Homeless about the experiences of unsheltered New Yorkers.)

OHI will be joining the Safety Net Project on Wednesday, March 18 at 11am for a rally outside City Hall to tell the Mayor that we need solutions, not sweeps. Join us!

Interested in advocating for city and state policies that support homeless neighbors, but not sure how to do so? Our Policy Advocacy workshop can help. This virtual, small-group workshop is highly interactive, so come ready to participate!

This workshop is part of our advocacy workshop series. We’ll cover:

• How homelessness policy is made and implemented

• How different policies impact homelessness prevention, people’s ease or difficulty in exiting shelter, and people’s experiences while homeless

• Learning about and practicing different tactics to influence policy

This workshop will take place on Zoom on Wednesday, March 11 from 7pm-8:30pm. It’s totally free. NOTE: If you RSVP initially and are no longer able to attend, no hard feelings--we understand that life happens--but we ask you to cancel your RSVP so we can admit additional participants off the waitlist.

Sign up here or using the button below. Questions? Email Will at will@openheartsinitiative.org. 

Help plan our upcoming welcome kits effort for a supportive housing site in Queens! RSVP below for the Zoom link.

Can’t make this meeting, but want to help plan? Email Jayme at jayme@openheartsinitiative.org.

Help plan the logistics for our upcoming street care kits effort in Lower Manhattan! RSVP below for the Zoom link.

Can’t make this meeting, but want to help plan? Email Jayme at jayme@openheartsinitiative.org.

Our monthly Homelessness: Learning From Experience (HLFE) meetings provide a space for unhoused neighbors to share experiences, build connections, and provide input that informs OHI's work. These meetings are also a great opportunity for folks who are housed to listen and learn about homelessness and build connections with neighbors in a casual setting.

If you're interested in joining us, click the button below to RSVP. Location will be shared upon RSVP.

We’ll be talking about:

• To be announced!

Questions? Email Will at will@openheartsinitiative.org.

We have a great group of volunteers leading regular writing workshops at a shelter on the Upper West Side, which take place on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month from 3:30-4:30 PM. If you’re interested in helping out with this, email Caroline at caroline@openheartsinitiative.org. 

Interested in getting involved in OHI’s city- and state-level policy advocacy efforts to end homelessness in NYC? Join OHI's member-led Policy and Advocacy Committee for our next meeting.

On the agenda:

• Planning actions in support of our policy priorities

This meeting will be on Zoom. RSVP below to get the Zoom link!

We are in need of a few more volunteers to help lead art workshops at a supportive housing site on the UES! Support neighbors as they learn and create. No art experience is required and we’ll provide the supplies!

Our next session is on Wednesday, 2/25 from 2-3:30 PM. Location upon RSVP!

Email caroline@openheartsinitiative.org if you’re interested in helping out! Address will be provided upon RSVP.

Join us for our monthly Housing Justice is Racial Justice meeting. This month’s topic: building deeply affordable housing.

We’ll be looking at parts of the Coalition for the Homeless’s recent Build From the Bottom Up report and discussing what it means for housing justice and racial justice that much of NYC’s affordable housing isn’t affordable to folks with the lowest incomes—and learning about how we can fix it!

This is an informal reading and discussion group for OHI members to learn together about the intersections of housing justice and racial justice and the roots of the housing and homelessness crisis in policies driven by systemic racism. It's a "101" type of space to learn and grow together, so no expertise is required (in fact, it’s geared towards folks who may not know much about these topics!) and is open to all OHI members. Each meeting focuses on a different “text” chosen by an OHI member that will serve as a jumping-off point for discussion. (Want to choose a text and help facilitate a meeting in the future? Reach out to Will at will@openheartsinitiative.org.)

If you're interested in joining, click the button below to RSVP, and we’ll share the reading and Zoom details.

I want to volunteer at the Free Store:

We need LOTS of volunteers on the day of the Free Store, including for shifts before and after the event. Sign up here

I want to donate items to the Free Store:

There are two ways to donate:

Drop off donations: We're looking for new or gently used winter clothing, hygiene supplies, and food pantry items. These items can be dropped off any time in Harlem, or every Sunday from 11-12:30 in Park Slope, Brooklyn. You can also arrange a drop-off in Clinton Hill, East New York, or Manhattan. Sign up to donate here.

Donate to the paypal for hygiene supplies and snacks here!

Do you help lead programming at shelters or supportive housing sites with OHI? Join our programming discussion to meet other volunteers doing similar work and learn from each other. RSVP below.

NOTE: While all are welcome to join, this meeting is intended for OHI members who are already involved in programming and want to strategize about it together. If you’re looking to get involved in programming for the first time, check out our events page.

We have a great group of volunteers leading weekly English language learning classes at a shelter in the Riverdale area of the Bronx, which take place on Mondays 4:00-5:00 PM & 7:00-8:00 PM as well as Thursdays 4:00-5:00 PM. If you’re interested in helping out with this, email Caroline at caroline@openheartsinitiative.org.