Services for the UnderServed celebrates reopening Beach 85th, a 71-unit supportive housing development

Services for the UnderServed (SUS) celebrated the reopening of its residence in Far Rockaway, a year and a half since being damaged by Superstorm Sandy. In an effort to restore shore neighborhoods since the storm, the 71-unit residence for individuals with mental illness, Beach 85th, is one of the first housing developments to complete extensive renovations. Residents, staff, elected officials, and funders of the renovation of the Beach 85th residence gathered at the site in Far Rockaway to celebrate the completion of the renovations and retrofitting for resiliency, as well as long-term recovery plans of SUS and its preparedness against future disasters. For the individuals residing at Beach 85th, the reopening of the building was an opportunity to celebrate their returning home. "The residence's reopening is a testament to SUS' resilience," said Donna Colonna, CEO of SUS, a nonprofit human service agency that serves thousands of New Yorkers with special needs. "Like others, we prepared for the storm, but were caught off guard by the intensity of the damage it caused. Since Sandy, we have poured resources into rebuilding the residence and we look ahead by implementing additional resources and training for future disaster-relief planning so that residents are less impacted." As a result of the storm, the building had a seven-foot floodwater surge, causing 17 tenants who lived in apartments on the first floor to lose all of their possessions and all 71 tenants to be initially evacuated to hotels, vacant apartments and community centers and eventually to temporary accommodations in the Pelham Bay neighborhood of the Bronx. Residents began to reoccupy the Beach 85th residence in September 2013 after residing in temporary housing for 11 months. Their transition back to the residence is supported by access to services that help them to secure employment, manage relationships and strengthen daily life skills. During the past year, SUS renovated the 4,000 s/f residence with funding from Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., FEMA and the Fund for the City of New York. Costs of the renovation, which covered cleanup, temporary housing for the tenants, and reconstruction and furnishing of the Beach 85th residence, totaled $4.2 million. "Hurricane Sandy revealed that our homes and businesses are vulnerable, but the Beach 85th residence is proof that we can learn from Sandy and rebuild resilient, sustainable affordable housing that will remain a safe haven for generations to come," said Bomee Jung, interim director of the New York office of Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. "It is a credit to SUS commitment to serving vulnerable New Yorkers that they not only renovated Beach 85th, but through Enterprise's Learning Collaborative for Housing Resilience, shared their learnings and are collaboratively developing comprehensive disaster preparedness and response plans. We hope Beach 85th will serve as a model for other waterfront developments that must explore retrofit options to protect against future storms." SUS is one of 12 organizations that participated in Enterprise's Learning Collaborative for Housing Resilience, which helped local organizations impacted by Hurricane Sandy improve the resiliency of their affordable housing properties and safeguard them from future crises. SUS worked with Enterprise to assess and enhance its emergency response capacity to be prepared for future severe weather events, which included developing disaster preparedness and response plans, establishing a disaster response network, and addressing the physical vulnerabilities of the buildings in its portfolios, among others.