| Matthew Sirovich and wife Meredith Elson |
The streets of New York City have never been an easy place. Right now approximately 3,350 men and women call them home, and more than 50,000 spend the night in a shelter, according to recent statistics released by the city’s Department of Homeless Services. Matthew Sirovich grew up in New York in the 1970s, a difficult era when the city was on the verge of bankruptcy. He remembers seeing homeless people on the street, and he developed a sympathy for them. “That only exhibited itself for the most part for 40 years of my life when I would give money to homeless on the street from time to time,” he says.
That changed when Sirovich, 48, managing partner at $4.5 billion hedge fund firm Scopia Capital Management, reconnected with a high school classmate at a reunion. That classmate, Muzzy Rosenblatt, is the executive director of the Bowery Residents’ Committee, a nonprofit that provides services to the homeless.
Their conversation led to a tour of BRC’s facilities. Sirovich was impressed by the caliber of people working for BRC and the outcomes they attain for their clients. It was a very educational visit, he says.
“I learned a lot more about homeless people than I ever knew,” says Sirovich. “I got a much better sense of why people become homeless.”
He joined the board six years ago, then joined the finance committee. He was elected treasurer last year.
BRC helps those struggling with substance abuse, provides transitional housing and permanent housing, and helps its clients find jobs. Many New Yorkers have probably seen BRC staff in action on the streets or in the subway — BRC has a contract with the Metropolitan Transit Authority to help men and women who are sleeping on subways and in stations.
But New York’s housing crisis means that there are few options for the homeless or for providing housing, and there are also fewer subsidies for permanent housing in the city. “There are not a lot of options right now in terms of where current clients can go when they are ready to take on the responsibility of permanent housing,” says Sirovich.
To attempt to answer that need, BRC has created a new model for financing low-income housing. The result will be a combination shelter and apartment building in the Bronx, to be named Landing Road.
By law, New York City must provide shelter for the homeless, which is usually done through the shelter system, paid for by the city. What the financing model for Landing Road does, says Sirovich, is use the shelter part of the development to fund the apartments. “The rates the city pays for shelters have become attractive enough for commercial for-profit landlords,” explains Sirovich. “This model would take some of those profits out of private investors’ hands and put them into a nonprofit that can then use those economics to subsidize affordable housing.”
Sirovich points to a lack of innovation when it comes to housing solutions for the homeless, which he ascribes to the lack of funding from public sources to develop new ideas. BRC has been a leader in finding new ways to fund housing, he says, often turning to private donations. “Once the concept is proven, it’s more feasible to get funding from public sources,” Sirovich says.
As treasurer, he works with BRC’s staff and oversees the organization’s finances. BRC’s revenues come primarily from New York City and New York State contracts, although the organization is concentrating on increasing contributions from private sources. “That’s more of a priority because it allows us the flexibility to be creative with solutions,” says Sirovich.
Rosenblatt says that Sirovich’s knowledge of finance has been invaluable to BRC and its board, but equally important are his compassion and readiness to educate others.
“Matt has become such a willing and skilled communicator of what this organization is trying to do and what our people are trying to achieve,” says Rosenblatt. “He connects us to other people, and that is how minds get changed.”
Changing minds is something Sirovich is keen to do, and he thinks there’s a growing interest in helping the homeless get their lives on track. “I think everyone wants to make New York a better place for everyone to live,” he says. “Helping BRC is a great way to help New York City.”
