Several residents of Troy are voicing their concern about two local non-profits’ work to support those in need — saying the services are linked to public safety challenges.
At the city council’s early April meeting, Victoria Lewis said efforts by Unity House and Joseph’s House to support displaced, addicted, and struggling individuals with housing, childcare, groceries, and careers is putting the community at risk.
Lewis, a social worker who lives on 5th Avenue near two of Unity House’s buildings, says she feels unsafe in her neighborhood because of people brought to the area allegedly seeking support.
“Unity House has now planted a big old building unsupervised, and another house on the corner next door to me unsupervised, where the prostitutes and the drug dealers and the overdosing and the fighting and the using goes back and forth,” Lewis said. “I call 911 on a regular basis. I stop Troy Police on a regular basis. That house on the corner where I live at has been raided numerous of times. Guess where the drug dealers are back? The squatters are there, and they live in these buildings.”
Unity House CEO Dave Bach says the non-profit works to address poverty and provide comprehensive support to people in need. Unity House serves the cities of Troy and Hudson, and Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Warren Counties. It also provides childcare and other youth programming.
Bach couldn’t specifically address Lewis’ concerns, but says the relationships people have with Unity House and their landlord are the same as any tenant’s. Bach says Unity House strives to be a good neighbor and does what it can to mitigate negative impacts on the community.
“These are people trying to make it in the community. OK, sometimes people aren't the best neighbors, and if that's the case and they're in our program, then we can work with them on the program side. Try to support them through it, but we can't make people do anything, nor should we, right,” Bach said. “And then if they are also a tenant of ours or a tenant of one of the landlords we have relationships with, and they're moving through the eviction process, well, that's a legal process that takes time, and oftentimes after that process starts, things sometimes get worse and neighbors become more aware of issues. So again, I can't speak to specifics.”
The homeless population in New York state has grown sharply in recent years, more than doubling between 2022 and 2024. That’s according to a report released in January by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Almost one in three are children, one of the highest such percentages in the nation. DiNapoli has called on the state to take a closer look at resources allocated for housing assistance, to help find where additional resources may be needed: DiNapoli said that the large spike in homelessness was driven in part by the influx of asylum seekers into New York City, but the rest of the state also had double and triple-digit rate increases.
Bach says Unity House supports an array of people.
“There's a lot of people in poverty with developmental disabilities, or there's people in poverty that have children with developmental disabilities who aren't working so they take care of their kids before they go to school. There are a lot of people living in poverty that have experienced or currently experiencing domestic violence. There's a lot of people in poverty that don't have jobs and need some supportive employment, right,” Bach said. “So, everything I told you about our services that unity House offers as we were chasing that elusive cure for poverty.”
Lewis has taken to social media to share her complaints, too. And she criticized city representatives for not returning her emails. District 2 councilor Ryan Brosnan, a Republican, defended himself, saying he did not receive them. Another resident, David Brown, also took to the floor to share concerns. Brown expressed his opinion on alleged lewd acts, violence, and litter.
First-term Mayor Carmella Mantello says people should recognize the good work the nonprofits do for the community, by providing housing, employing residents, and trying to make the community more welcoming.
“Like I had said many times, people sometimes forget. You know, they are valuable. They employ quite a few people. They house quite a few people, obviously,” Mantello said. “But if we recognize that, say, Joseph's House or Unity House is having a problem, our police and us will immediately contact the directors, make them aware and work to try to remedy some of the problems in those facilities.”
For its part, Joseph’s House says, in part, it “provides non-judgmental services… in service of a vision where everyone in our neighborhoods has safe and affordable housing.”