Housing agency helps women find new destiny.

A deserted parochial school on the Lower East Side. A vacant Brooklyn tenement. A string of unpaved lots in the northwest Bronx. A long-abandoned 1901 Beaux Arts apartment building in Bedford Stuyvesant. A former warehouse on Staten Island. A building in midtown Manhattan reputed to have once housed a posh 1930s nightclub.

These are some of the structures that New Destiny Housing Corporation, a nonprofit developer, has converted or built upon to create housing for domestic violence survivors and other low income New York City residents.

Founded in 1994, New Destiny opened its first emergency shelter two years later. The organization's next major project was to transform a long vacant building into a dozen apartments with a 50/50 mix of domestic violence survivors and low income tenants (the approximate percentage for all of the organization's permanent housing sites). New Destiny currently owns and manages six permanent and transitional residential buildings housing over 111 families and an emergency shelter for 33 families a year, has properties set to open soon that will accommodate an additional 150 families, and is committed to several projects under construction or in predevelopment.

Finding, funding and creating housing for the survivors of domestic violence in a city that registered over 12,000 calls on its Domestic Violence (DV) hotline in 2004 and counts only 1,900 available beds is a task inherently rife with frustration. The organization has overcome many obstacles through patience, creativity and sheer determination. As New Destiny's executive director Carol Corden points out, "Commitment and perseverance in the face of formidable odds are the very qualities the survivors must use to better their lives. We owe it to them to at least strive to match the stamina and tenacity they've shown."

To date, the construction and conversion projects have cost approximately $1 million to $9 million and generally take three to five years to complete. Finding adequate space is the first hurdle.

"There's a tremendous shortage of available land and unoccupied buildings," says Corden. A strong housing market, rising construction costs and a scarcity of City-owned land have caused a critical dearth in affordable housing. A bureaucratic Catch-22 causes more problems: New Destiny needs government funds to develop a site, but must take ownership before it can secure the financing. Even bridge loans are often insufficient as acquisition costs mount in a booming real estate market.

In addition, community fears of dwellings targeted for domestic violence survivors are often difficult to overcome. Finally, it is extremely difficult for New Destiny to promote its work to the public since State-licensed emergency and transitional facilities must have confidential addresses to protect the residents.

Funding comes from multiple sources, including state, city and federal monies, foundation and corporate grants and individuals. New Destiny formed its first public/ private partnership at 307 E. 54th St., a permanent housing project set to open in the near future, and hopes to see more such alliances.

The organization works in collaboration with related social service agencies such as Safe Horizon and Barrier Free Living (for the disabled).All of its properties are either service-enriched or supportive, offering everything from ready access to case managers to on-site child care, vocational training, legal referrals and counseling.

HousingLink, a program initiated in 1999, educates residents at emergency and transitional locations about permanent housing options and helps clients navigate the complexities of applying for subsidized housing.

The true successes are, according to Corden, achieved by the survivors. She cites the story of a young woman from Gambia. After New Destiny helped her to qualify for a rental subsidy and linked her to an apartment in one of its projects, she got a job, attended school in the evening and went on to receive an AA degree and a promotion at work.

Says Corden, "The women we serve are all seeking 'new destinies'--new futures, new possibilities. They are, truly, achievers in every sense of the word."