At 30, Housing Team Is In It For Long Haul

It’s a good thing Jim Paley likes a challenge. As the founding executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven celebrated the organization’s 30th anniversary Tuesday night, the issue of how to promote affordable housing has gotten complicated indeed.

An enthusiastic crowd gathered in the New Haven Museum (formerly New Haven Historical Society) on Whitney Avenue to take note of NHS’s many accomplishments and honor 20-year volunteer Carol Anastasio.

Paley (pictured) said the collapse of the housing market with its attendant skyrocketing number of foreclosures and increase in abandoned buildings has created a challenging landscape as NHS continues to pursue its mission. He described the mission as ​“revitalizing neighborhoods by emphasizing homeownership — making homes beautiful and energy efficient — and helping people take control of their neighborhood.” NHS has rehabilitated about 300 homes in targeted areas to help rejuvenate whole communities, including the 12 Victorians around Whalley Avenue, Ella Grasso Boulevard and Blake Street.

NHS’s HomeOwnership Center, which debuted in 2007, helps more homeowners avoid foreclosure than any other agency or organization in Connecticut. Read more about that here.

And its new Home Improvement and Energy Conservation Laboratory helps homeowners — even those not in NHS-renovated houses — learn to do their own repairs and go greener. Pictured is Bridgette Russell, the center’s managing director, one of 22 current staff (grown from three at the beginning).

“The complexity of the work and the various ways we can impact a community, being able to forge partnerships and the dedication of my staff” — Paley said all those factors energize him to come to work each day in the beautifully renovated house on Sherman Avenue that serves as the NHS office.

When Paley isn’t living and breathing housing rehab, he mellows out by playing acoustic guitar, an avocation he began in 1963, as attested in the silent auction item he offered at Tuesday night’s event. (Pictured: another silent auction item.)

p(clear). Having studied with Jorma Kaukonen (pictured, guitarist of Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, and solo fame), Paley called his six-string donation ​“priceless.”

p(clear). Jazz was provided by the Psalms 150 Trio.

p(clear). Among the revelers were Beaver Hill activists Bob and Francine Caplan.

p(clear). The gathering honored Carol Anastasio (pictured below with her father, Joseph), who served on the board of NHS for 20 years before stepping down a few months ago. A social worker in the early childhood program of New Haven Public Schools, Anastasio said she’s always been active in the community and involved with various non-profits. But the mission of NHS really clicked with her philosophy that housing is a human right. Besides, she lives on Winthrop Avenue in Beaver Hill, one of the neighborhoods the organization had targeted for renewal. ​“I’m a stakeholder — I live right here,” she said. ​“I have a vested interest. I have that historical firsthand experience of the impact NHS has made in the community, right here on my street. I’ve really seen the neighborhood turn around positively.”

p(clear). One story demonstrates that impact. Anastasio said a woman got involved with NHS because she wanted to buy a home on Winthrop Avenue. ​“That home had just sat there for at least two years. You see housing stock just sitting there and to see somebody like Nadine Herring, who, through NHS’s assistance, bought the house and now it’s totally refurbished — it’s the greatest thing. She became very active in the neighborhood and ultimately became president of the NHS board.” Anastasio said Herring is no longer on the board but is still active.

p(clear). As she thought back over her time with NHS, Anastasio marveled at the progress made on different fronts. ​“Twenty to thirty years ago it occupied one building, maybe had one program, a handful of staff, and now it’s gotten so sophisticated. It’s in several buildings, has multiple funding sources, numerous programs, and it’s impacted hundreds of people. I’m a social worker; when you talk about investing in children, and strengthening families and communities — housing is a means to an end. And I think because NHS has never varied from its mission, that’s why I’ve hung in there that long, and because I’ve seen perceptible, positive change.”