Successful mental health pilot at risk as city stalls release of promised funds
Irma Garcia-Vargas, who lives with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, struggled to find stable housing and treatment years after she moved to New York. Garcia-Vargas, who came to the city from Puerto Rico in 2016, cycled in and out of city shelters, where she said it was difficult to access help for her mental illness. She […]
Institute for Community Living and Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter Announce Partnership to Expand Support for New Yorkers Facing Housing Instability
NCS will Join ICL as An Affiliate, Boosting Services and Reducing Operational Costs New York, NY — April 29, 2026 — The Boards of the Institute for Community Living (ICL) and Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter (NCS) today announced that NCS is joining ICL as an affiliate, marking an exciting step forward in expanding housing, services, […]
Meeting Crisis With Connection: The Power of Peer Specialists on Mobile Crisis Teams
Over the past several years, New York City has increasingly shifted toward community-based responses to behavioral health crises. In the past, individuals experiencing psychiatric emergencies were often limited to hospital emergency departments or interactions with law enforcement. While those systems still play an important role, there has been a growing effort to develop alternatives that […]
STEPS program shows promise in first two years
A pilot program designed to help New Yorkers with serious mental illness transition out of intensive mental health programs shows promise in early results, according to the Institute for Community Living. A report detailing the STEPS program’s progress over its first two years shows that 97 percent of the individuals who went through the program remain housed. Roughly 89 […]
Notable Leaders in Health Care 2026
Our 2026 Notable Leaders in Health Care represent the driving force behind this industry. The 80 honorees below are leading innovations in neuroscience, making mental health support more accessible, advising health care organizations on digital innovation, leading workforces that are thousands strong, and more. Click here to read more.
New Report Shows ICL’s STEPS Model Reduces Costs and Increases Stability for People with Serious Mental Health Challenges While Expanding Access to Most Intensive Mental Health Services
City Should Release $4.5M Allocated to STEPS in FY26 Budget to reach more New Yorkers and Relieve Pressure on the Broader System Click here to read the full Year Two Evaluation Report (New York, NY) – Today, the Institute for Community Living (ICL) released its Year Two Evaluation Report on the Step-down Treatment Ensures Personal Success (STEPS) innovative pilot program. The […]
Opinion: New York’s Mental Health Crisis Demands We Invest in Programs That Work
For years, New York City has struggled to meet the needs of people living with the most serious behavioral health challenges. We saw the consequences on our subways and in shelters, emergency rooms, and jails. But in the last few years, the city, state and nonprofit providers developed even more effective programs—including Intensive Mobile Treatment […]
Testimony before the New York City Council Committee on Mental Health and Addiction
Good afternoon, Chair Cabán and members of the committee. I’m Laura Savino, Senior Vice President of Care Management at the Institute for Community Living. ICL serves more than 10,000 New Yorkers annually and houses 4,000 people each night across the five boroughs. Behind those numbers are people – parents, veterans, survivors – who rely on […]
Op-ed: Mamdani should scale affordable housing services to help the homeless
No single policy will solve New York City’s homelessness crisis on its own, but a little-known program with tremendous potential offers one of the most effective paths from shelter to permanent housing. Affordable Housing Services is a proven model that can help thousands of New Yorkers move into deeply affordable, stable homes, and it deserves […]
The 2026 Who’s Who in Affordable Housing
New Yorkers creating and preserving housing for low- or middle-income households. There’s no single policy solution when it comes to easing the housing crisis in New York. Instead, there’s an assortment of policies and programs aimed at addressing the severe shortage of affordable units. Incentives for developers, subsidies for tenants and limits on rental increases have […]