Westhab Inc.

“Minutes of the board meetings are written and adopted by the board at subsequent meetings. Actions of the Executive Committee are written and ratified by the full board at subsequent meetings. The Executive Committee, which consists of the officers of the Corporation who also serve on the Board of Directors, has authority to act for the Board between Board meetings.”

“The Form 990 is reviewed and approved by the organization's Vice President-Finance, Senior Vice President-Services and President and is then distributed to board members for review prior to filing.”

“Conflict of interest policy requires annual disclosure of conflicts by board members and key employees. In addition, if and when business transactions involving interested persons come before the board, the appropriate directors recuse themselves and leave the meeting during any discussion of the business in question. Robert Petrocelli, 1st Vice Chair, acts as broker for several of Westhab's employee benefit programs and earns a standard industry commission directly from the provider. This engagement precedes Mr. Petrocelli's tenure on the board and is duly disclosed in accordance with Westhab's conflict of interest policy.”

“ANNUALLY, THE CEO IS REQUESTED BY THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD TO PROVIDE THE COMPENSATION COMMITTEE WITH A RECOMMENDATION AND JUSTIFICATION FOR A COMPENSATION INCREASE, DECREASE OR A RECOMMENDATION TO REMAIN THE SAME. THE COMPENSATION COMMITTEE REVIEWS THE CEO'S RECOMMENDATION AND DOES INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO COMPARABILITY. THEY THEN DISCUSS THEIR RESULTS AND THE CHAIRMAN THEN INFORMS THE CEO OF THE COMMITTEE'S DECISION. THE PRESIDENT DETERMINES THE COMPENSATION OF OFFICERS AND KEY EMPLOYEES BASED ON COMPARABILITY INFORMATION AND PERFORMANCE REVIEWS IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE ORGANIZATION'S HUMAN RESOURCE DIRECTOR and input from the compensation committee of the board.”

“The organization's annual report is distributed to all funders and donors and is available through our website upon request. Our governing documents and conflict of interest policy are distributed upon request to all funders and donors and are available upon request to members of the public.”

“Housing services and operations: at the heart of westhab's mission of building communities / changing lives is to provide quality, affordable housing and services for the poorest citizens of westchester county and new york city. Over 5,000 individuals (homeless, veterans, seniors, formerly incarcerated, youth and individuals diagnosed with a mental illness) each year receive and/or maintain housing and participate in services through permanent affordable housing, supportive housing, emergency shelter and transitional housing. Adapting the "housing first" model to meet local needs and utilizing rapid re-housing, effective case management, and aggressive home-finding activities, we have successfully moved 7,850 households from homelessness to permanent housing including 1,581 in the last 5 years alone. We currently provide 2,469 units of affordable, supportive, and transitional rental housing in westchester and new york city. Westhab provides property and facility management in all of our facilities, homeless shelters, small and large multifamily buildings, and special needs residences. We also provide security services, both staffed and through the use of technology in all of our buildings. Beginning in 1983, westhab, in close partnership with the westchester county department of social services, pioneered the creation of the emergency housing apartment program, now a national model for upgrading substandard housing while providing transitional housing for homeless families. Westhab currently provides 145 units of this community-based housing for homeless households (142-family units / 3-single adult units), in dozens of residential buildings throughout southern westchester. We are very proud of the westhab green management sign on the front of our buildings identifying the best-maintained buildings on the block.”

“Shelter operations: at the height of the homeless crisis in westchester county, in the mid-1990's, westhab operated four large shelters for homeless families and individuals. We currently operate the only two tier 2 familiy shelters in westchester; a 100-unit facility in white plains and a 34-unit in mount vernon. Both facilities provide a comprehensive array of services designed to assist homeless families in moving to affordable permanent rental housing. In 2019, we transitioned more than 213 homeless households in westchester to permanent housing through this process and have reduced the median length of time of homelessness from one year, ten years ago, to seven months in 2019. In july of 2016 we partnered with the new york city department of homeless services, taking our very successful model of working with the homeless in westchester county, to new york city. Starting with a 177-bed single men's shelter in the south bronx, which led to a 90-bed single men's shelter in brooklyn in november of 2017 we opened a 94-unit adult family (no children under 18) shelter in the bronx. Two family shelters were added, both in the bronx, which provides for 30 and 97 families, respectively. A new 200 unit womens shelter opened in late 2019. Since 2016 we have successfully transitioned 578 individuals from shelter to permanent housing in new york city. Westhab has developed comprehensive youth services programs in its homeless shelters to meet the myriad academic, enrichment and social needs of homeless young people. Our youth services model has continually evolved and we now also operate 6 community-based youth centers in yonkers (1), the bronx (3) and manhattan (2) to meet the needs of at-risk young people in distressed neighborhoods. In 2019, we served more than 1,270 young people in these programs.”

“Employment services: westhab's employment services programs focus on job readiness training, job placement and job retention. We started this service with homeless residents in our shelters, then expanded to serving the larger community in mount vernon and yonkers by opening community resource centers in both communities. In 2016 we expanded our model to work with residents of our new york city homeless programs. We work with young adults involved in the criminal justice system, young adults pre/post release from the westchester county jail, new york state parole and public assistance recipients through the 6 counties of the lower hudson valley. In 2016 through a partnership with the city of new rochelle westhab opened the first job source referral center in downtown new rochelle, a one stop shop for community members to receive job readiness training, hard skill training, educational assistance, job placement assistance and job retention services. Westhab's employment service division has averaged 432 placements per year over the past five years in jobs paying an average of over $14.00 per hour. Additionally, our community resource centers enable several thousand residents each year to access job-finding opportunites on the internet, upgrade resumes, obtain interview clothing, and practice interview techniques.”

“Affordable Low Income Housing Development: Westhab acquires property and develops housing, using different financing sources available including state and federal funds, Low Income Housing Tax Credit Financing, and Private Debt Financing. Westhab purchases vacant land or unoccupied buildings in Westchester and the Bronx and formulates a residential development that serves an existing need in the community. Westhab establishes a development team that includes architects, engineers, attorneys, consultants, and a general contractor that serve to design and build the quality, affordable housing development. In 2017, Westhab completed construction on two developments in Yonkers, NY. Bay House, a 16 bed multifamily rental building for disconnected youth, was completed in May 2017 using construction grant financing from HHAC. Ludlow Commons, a 70-unit multifamily rental building for low-income seniors, was completed in November 2017. Ludlow Commons utilized HUD Financing through its 202 program, Tax Credits and Tax Exempt Bonds through NYS HCR, and subsidy financing from NYS GOSR. In June 2017, Westhab purchased land in a low-income neighborhood of Yonkers to construct a 63-unit affordable residential building to be called Dayspring Commons. Westhab controls the Church next to the site where Dayspring Commons will be built, and is in the process of re-purposing the church into a full-service community center and renovating it. closing on the financing for the construction of Day spring commons and renovations to the community center is expected in november 2019. In total, Westhab has developed 912 housing units at an investment of $134,000,000”