On Wednesday, March 13, 2013, at 12:00 Noon, I will be hosting my show The Advocates on WVOX- my guest is Alexander Roberts, Executive Director of Community Housing Innovations and our subject is “Public and Work- force Housing: Solutions to a Worsening Crisis.”
As Executive Director of Community Housing Innovations (CHI) since its inception, Alexander Roberts has overseen the acquisition of 500 houses and apartments in Westchester, Ulster, Nassau and Suffolk Counties, with a budget of $20 million a year. CHI was cited in 2002 as one of the nation’s fastest growing housing nonprofits by the consulting firm of McKinsey and Company.
Mr. Roberts founded CHI in 1991, after spending nearly 20 years as a television news correspondent. He was a reporter and anchor for WVIR-TV in Charlottesville, Virginia, WRGB-TV in Albany, and WPIX-TV in New York City. He won numerous awards for his reporting, including two Emmy Nominations and the Associated Press Broadcasters Award for General Excellence in Individual Reporting.
After covering the welfare hotel scandals in the late eighties in New York City, Mr. Roberts decided to leave broadcasting for a career in affordable housing development and human services.
In 1991, Suffolk County, New York faced a crisis in which nearly 500 families were homeless--the majority in unsupervised welfare hotels. Children were living in crowded, vermin-infested rooms, with drugs freely available. Working with the Suffolk County Department of Social Services, Mr. Roberts developed a supervised motel model. He negotiated agreements with motel owners that established on site CHI offices, with caseworkers to assist the homeless in finding housing and services. CHI monitored health and safety standards and families were required to execute “self-sufficiency contracts” with CHI social workers. CHI relocated thousands of families into permanent and transitional housing, ultimately resulting in the closure of the welfare hotels by 1996.
In 1994, Roberts proposed an emergency housing strategy to Westchester County that allowed the agency to acquire multi-family buildings. Leveraging tens of millions of dollars in grants, low interest loans, and bank mortgages, Roberts negotiated the acquisition of nearly 500 units of housing for the poor and those with special needs in Westchester County and Long Island.
In 1996, under Roberts’ guidance, CHI began developing partnerships with services organizations that lacked the housing development expertise to compete for federal HUD Supportive Housing Program grants. With these organizations providing the case management for individuals with special needs--such as the developmentally disabled and mentally ill--CHI obtained grants totaling over $9 million to develop supportive housing for these populations. CHI received Best Practices recognition from HUD in 2000.
Also in that year, Mr. Roberts started a division to assist families in realizing the dream of home ownership. Called “Renters into Owners,” the program included CHI’s purchase and renovation of more than 100 homes for sale for as little as no money down to first time home buyers. Since then, Mr. Roberts has established a nonprofit brokerage subsidiary catering to first time homebuyers, as well as a management and development company. CHI’s home ownership division annually administers about $1 million in grants to first time home buyers under contract with the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, the New York State Affordable Housing Corporation, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York. To date, as Local Program Administrator for NYS Homes and Community Renewal, the agency has enabled 450 households to become homeowners with down payment assistance and free counseling. The agency’s grant recipients have had a default rate far below the national average.
Mr. Roberts came to the energy efficiency movement early and completed the Energy Management Certification course sponsored by the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal in January 2002. He has utilized the NYSERDA Multifamily Performance Program for nine of CHI’s existing buildings, coupling it with Weatherization. In 2009, CHI developed and built a 14-unit condominium in White Plains that was the first to meet all of the requirements of the New York State Energy $mart Low Rise Multifamily Performance Program and the first to utilize geothermal heat pumps for heating and cooling in White Plains. CHI has also authorized energy audits and retrofits for dozens of its residential properties under the National Grid and New York State Weatherization programs.
Mr. Roberts is active in volunteer community efforts, serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the Supportive Housing Network of New York. He sits on the Tarrytown Moderate Income Housing Board and Tarrytown Environmental Advisory Council. Mr. Roberts served as president of the Westchester Symphony Orchestra from 1996 to 1998. He is married to Barbara G. Roberts, a First Vice President and Senior Financial Advisor for Merrill Lynch, named in 2011 by Registered Rep magazine among the top 50 women in the nation among advisors in brokerage firms and banks ("Wirehouse Women”).
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free