The History of Nazareth Housing:

The 1980’s saw a crisis in New York City, and on the Lower East Side in particular, as new housing was created targeting upper-income individuals, while housing for middle and lower-income individuals declined. Church and community leaders, distressed by this situation, as well as the increasing physical decay of existing housing stock, and the economic loss and the political disenfranchisement in the area, were eager to reverse these trends. The result was a tenant organization and a broad-based coalition aimed at homesteading the buildings that had become derelict under absentee landlords.

Nazareth Housing was born from this movement. Under the direction of Sr. Marion Agnes Daniel, MSBT, and in conjunction with others in her congregation (NYTimes article), Nazareth Housing's original mission was to help low-income residents organize and renovate abandoned buildings through a process that became known as urban homesteading. The refurbished buildings were cooperatively owned and managed by the people who rebuilt them. Homesteading led to several positive outcomes simultaneously:

Quality housing for people who had lived in substandard conditions or have been on the verge of homelessness; Training for individuals in construction and renovation work that resulted in jobs; The creation of small, politically active groups (or networks), able to lobby city and state leaders.

Nazareth Housing worked closely with Catholic Charities and other social service providers and community groups to meet the many needs of the families and to build coalitions to advocate for the poor in the Lower East Side. Nazareth Housing incorporated in 1983 as a not for profit agency. This allowed the agency to seek different streams of finding and resources to better meet the growing needs of the families we serve.

Today Nazareth Housing operates two buildings with transitional and permanent supportive housing, and provides scatter site transitional housing in several building we helped to homestead. In June of 2006, the agency opened its newest brick and mortar project: Marion Agnes House (named in honor of the agency’s founder, redeveloped from a long-closed Catholic school). This project has fifteen apartments, thirteen of which are rented to permanent residents who hold renewable leases. The other two are for temporarily housing homeless families. In total, Nazareth Housing oversees 40 units of permanent housing and thirteen units of transitional housing. An outcome of this activist history is that Nazareth Housing has become a recognized leader in low-income housing issues. The agency provides supportive services to the inhabitants of the apartments directly in its care, as well as advocacy, emergency assistance and prevention services to the broader community.

Under the leadership of an active Board of Directors and Executive Director Michael J. Callaghan, Nazareth Housing is securing its future by assuring ongoing resources to maintain the capital needs of the buildings as well as to provide the many services needed by the poor who come to us for assistance. As the problem of homelessness among working families has grown in the New York area, the agency is exploring ways to expand housing, facilities, and programming to meet the critical needs of homeless families and the working poor.

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