Timeline
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1974
NHS of Jamaica, Incorporated was created
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1975
Purchased 1st House at 152-13 118th Avenue
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1976
Received Revolving Loan Funds From Neighborhood Reinvestment
Created The Queens Home Maintenance Training Program
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1977
Sponsored Summer Youth Employment Program
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1980
Senior Repair Program Implemented
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1982
NHS of Jamaica, Inc. Joins NHS of New York City, Inc.
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1987
Founded The NHS Development Corporation
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1994
Partnered with Jamaica Manor-NYC Housing Partnership & NHSDC
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1996
Purchased Building at 89-70 162nd Street
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1997
Lakewood Gardens-Jobe Brothers and NYC Housng Partnership Formed
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1998
NHSJ Youth Council
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1999
NHSJ Resource Center
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2003
Started The Southeast Queens Anti-Predatory Lending Task Force
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2005
NHSJ Becomes a Homeownership Center
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2008
Housing Counseling Network Partner with the CNYCN
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2009
NHSJ Separated from NHS of NYC, Inc.
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2012
Property Managers For The South Jamaica Multi-Service Center
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2013
Satellite Office Opens In Far Rockaway
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2014
NHSJ Celebrates 40 Years of Community Service
Mission
Neighborhood Housing Services of Jamaica, Inc., (NHSJ) is a 42 year old non-profit organization committed to preserving, protecting, and revitalizing neighborhoods, through increasing: homeownership, community development and investment in southern Queens. This is accomplished by offering housing education, counseling and financial services to low-to-moderate income residents thus allowing people access to sustainable, affordable housing in southern Queens. We partner with residents, businesses and government to promote homeownership and community reinvestment. Thus, NHSJ continues to set new benchmarks that will enable the corporation to go beyond what it has already achieved.
Vision
NHSJ was founded in 1974. Over the past 42 years, NHSJ continues to work with government agencies, local businesses, our non-profit partners, community and political leaders and community members to assist us in helping residents achieve their goals. The lack of affordable homeownership in Southeast Queens has empowered us to set our sights on the root problems causing the high cost of homeownership, the increase of foreclosures and the poor conditions of neighborhoods in our community.
We have found education and communication to be the key. Therefore, we continue to search for new opportunities, new educational programs and business products to add to our services to help our residents achieve their goals of homeownership, home stabilization and financial fitness. We educate and train ourselves so that we can continue to educate residents about the latest and trending opportunities to increase their purchasing power and the financial products, services and partners in our areas. We will continue to empower strong community leaders, through available resources, to help their neighbors improve and preserve the quality of community life.
History
In 1973, community residents from South East Queens communities with representatives from lending institutions and local government formed a committee to address concerns in the Baisley Park section of Queens regarding the lack of reinvestment by local banks and redlining by private insurance companies. Their research on these issues led them to the Neighborhood Housing Services of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the first NHS in the country and Dorothy Richardson its pioneer and Founder. They received guidance and assistance from NeighborWorks America®, at that time known as ‘the Urban Reinvestment Task Force’.
This dynamic team spent a number of days in Pittsburgh collecting information on the program: how it worked, how it was funded and who it served. Prior to their departure, they negotiated a contract with James G. Cook, Associate Director of the Pittsburgh NHS, to come to New York, and work with them to develop the NHS of Jamaica. The Jamaica NHS was incorporated in 1974 and is recognized as the first NHS in the state of New York, and the 3rd in the country.
For many years thereafter, NHSJ has provided homeownership education and affordable housing services for residents throughout southeast Jamaica Queens. However, many of our special products were targeted to those who reside within the boundaries of Queens Community Board 12, the second largest in Queens. Queens, New York is one of the most severely impacted boroughs in New York City by the foreclosure crises. Statistics indicate that Queens has borne a disproportionate share of foreclosure when compared to the City's other boroughs. The reason for this are manifold; limited access to mainstream credit markets, excessive and higher fees for credit, higher interest rates, predatory lending practices, and an over reliance on the subprime mortgage market. Within Queens the community of Southeast Jamaica has indeed suffered the greater impact.
Our agency is part of a large network of social service providers in Queens since 1974. We are recognized by New York State Housing and Community Renewal as a Community Development Corporation, working to stabilize neighborhoods. We are grant administers for acquisition, rehabilitation and construction of new housing, or to provide assistance to low-income home-buyers and renters. We do provide a detailed and in-depth counseling and technical assistance to community residents. The value of our programs and services has leveraged community reinvestment dollars in excess of twenty billion dollars.
The scale and complexity of the housing market requires new strategies to bring properties back into neighborhoods impacted by the national foreclosure crisis and most recent the Super storm Sandy. With a dynamic team of experienced professional staff, trained, and qualified with scalable skills we are able to provide valuable service to customers.