Summary
On July 16, 2026, SHOUT (Supportive Housing Organized and United Tenants) and TakeRoot Justice released a new report, “Nothing Was Done: How New York City’s Supportive Housing System Fails Tenants, and What Must Change”. The report reveals the multiple ways supportive housing fails to support tenants, the systemic barriers faced by supportive housing tenants seeking to remedy issues with their housing, and the impact this has on their lives.
New York’s supportive housing model is the first of its kind, intended to offer affordable, permanent housing coupled with mental health and supportive services to individuals and families, including those who have experienced homelessness, are low-income, have physical disabilities, chronic health conditions, mental illness, HIV/AIDS, live with past or present substance use issues and youth who have aged out of foster care. In theory, New York’s supportive housing system is intended to enable the stability and independence of such individuals and families, but, in practice, the system is fraught with bureaucratic dysfunctions, opaque guidelines and oppressive restrictions that cause multiple harms to tenants.
Set across this backdrop, SHOUT, the first organizing group in NYC created by and for supportive housing tenants, partnered with TakeRoot Justice on a participatory action research project to document how supportive housing tenants are harmed when housing providers fail to meet their needs, and the systemic failures that make it difficult for them to seek recourse. Our research reveals how tenants are limited in their ability to demand changes and improvements because of non-aligned and poorly designed oversight mechanisms, confusing complaints systems, insufficient processes of investigation, and retaliation from supportive housing providers.
The report is based on nearly 50 surveys administered by trained SHOUT members to supportive housing tenants living across New York City and interviews with long-term tenants who shared their distressing experiences as they tried seeking recourse for their housing conditions.
Key findings from our research include:
- Supportive housing often fails to support. Survey respondents report experiences of harassment, threatening behavior and violations of both the spirit and policies of “support.”
- Repairs processes are fraught with problems, including being insufficiently explained and failing to bring about results.
- Providers’ grievance processes fall short, including failure to explain procedures and failure to respond to complaints.
- The 311 process is insufficient for supportive housing tenants, and most survey respondents felt their problem was not resolved by calling 311.
- The process of making complaints to government contracting agencies, which should be an effective remedy for tenants, is inaccessible and fails to achieve results.
- Concerns about retaliation, impacts on mental and physical health, and fear of losing housing have a chilling effect on tenant complaints.
- Tenants report numerous negative experiences navigating complaint and grievance processes and have experienced significant harms as a result of these processes.
SHOUT demands immediate changes to strengthen oversight of supportive housing and ensure meaningful accountability of providers so that supportive housing can fulfill its stated goals and purposes.
Key policy recommendations include:
- Strengthening and enforcing the rules governing the provision of supportive housing.
- Standardizing policies and practices across contracting agencies and supportive housing providers, including comprehensive, standardized complaint processes at both the provider and agency levels.
- Improving transparency, so tenants can more easily learn about their rights and access information about their providers.
- Improving training and protocol for calls made to 311.
- Creating meaningful, enforceable anti-eviction protections for supportive housing tenants.
Full findings and policy recommendations can be found in the report, read here.