OUR PROGRAMS
HATAS provides an immediate, short, and long-term — today, tonight, and tomorrow — coordinated response to end homelessness through a centralized and comprehensive continuum of care.
Our programming creates positive change within our community by empowering and connecting homeless individuals and families to safe and temporary housing, while simultaneously providing wrap-around services leading to permanent housing, linkage to community services, and employment. Through the organization’s programming and continuum of care, HATAS impacts thousands of individuals and families each year.
Homeless Emergency Services
(Homeless Hotline)
Since 1983, HATAS has served as the central intake, assessment, and referral point for homeless residents needing shelter after-hours. The hotline partners with area homeless shelters, police departments, hospitals, libraries, CDTA, and numerous others to provide immediate access to a homeless shelter, as well as food and clothing.
Code Blue Albany
Since 2010, Code Blue has provided outreach, transportation, and shelter protocols to engage, transport, and shelter homeless people who might otherwise remain unsheltered during periods of extreme winter weather; 32 degrees or less. Our goal is to prevent people from experiencing threats to life and health from exposure to severe winter weather. HATAS partners with local nonprofits, churches, and institutions to ensure safe housing during periods of extreme cold.
Community Transition Team/Mental Health
The Community Transition Team assists individuals living with mental illness in navigating Albany County support systems. We help patients at the Capital District Psychiatric Center transition to community life, securing supportive housing, mental health treatment, primary care, disability benefits, and employment.
Coordinated Entry
Coordinated Entry (CE) is a critical component of the system-wide effort to prevent and reduce homelessness. The Coordinated Entry program, managed and operated by HATAS, helps Albany County prioritize assistance based on vulnerability and severity of service needs to ensure that people who need assistance the most can receive it in a timely manner. The CE program operates on the following principles; prioritization, low barrier, housing first, person-centered, fair and equal access, and inclusivity. CE ensures that all persons experiencing a housing crisis have uniform access to housing assistance and support. The program operates on a “no wrong door” philosophy, meaning that people in crisis can apply for housing from multiple access points.
Rapid Rehousing
Rapid Rehousing (RR) is a short/medium-term solution for homeless households that do not need a permanent housing subsidy. RR is designed to give homeless and at-risk households a “boost,” and the majority of RR households at HATAS receive assistance for 12 months or less. Primarily intended for single adults, the program provides rental assistance, employment assistance, and a connection to treatment. Our goal is to restore confidence and give program participants the assistance they need to be independent.
Permanent Supported Housing
Permanent Supported Housing (PSH) offers a meaningful and lasting solution to end homelessness. To qualify for PSH, the applicant must be homeless and also able to demonstrate that they have a qualifying disability. At HATAS, the majority of our PSH households have a serious and persistent mental illness. The program has been proven to increase housing stability, improve healthcare, and develop self-sufficiency for the most vulnerable households. HATAS currently provides over 140 units of supportive housing to our neighbors in need.
Capital Region Furniture Bank
Founded in 2016, the Capital Region Furniture Bank’s goal is to eradicate furniture poverty for low-income households. Over the course of 2022, the furniture bank eradicated furniture poverty for 971 low-income households. This is a 29% increase over the prior year. We accept furniture from local universities, colleges, hotels, motels, and private homes. Can you imagine living in an apartment without a kitchen table, a bed, or a dresser? Neither can we. In addition to eradicating furniture poverty, the Capital Region Furniture Bank is a training ground for people with a history of Justice Involvement. By supporting the Capital Region Furniture Bank, you're eradicating furniture poverty AND reducing recidivism!
Feed & Read (FAR) Program
More than 33% of low-income children in the City of Albany are food insecure, and we know that not having enough food negatively impacts a child’s ability to participate, advance, and be their best. Each week during the school year, HATAS provides more than 475 children with twelve pounds of food, a dozen eggs, a gallon of milk, and an age-appropriate book.