Every spring, we take a moment to look back at what you helped us accomplish through Breaking Ground's outreach and housing programs in the last calendar year. In 2024, our community of supporters ensured that we could serve over 13,000 vulnerable New Yorkers. That includes thousands of people who have overcome a long-term struggle with homelessness through our interventions and those who are making steady progress to that same end.
Breaking Ground’s work always starts by meeting people where they are. For many, that could be a street corner, under scaffolding, in a park, or under an overpass. Our Street to Home and Connect to Care programs reached over 6,000 individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness last year and helped over 1,400 to come indoors to a transitional or permanent housing placement. Crucially, we expanded our Queens Drop-In Center to serve up to 75 people daily in September, and we were able to add a marvelous hardscaped outdoor area thanks to an amazing fundraising effort by the Breaking Ground Junior Board!
Safe havens are a crucial harm reduction resource for street homeless New Yorkers, providing an immediate option to come indoors while continuing to work towards securing a permanent home. In 2024, Breaking Ground opened The Continental in Greenpoint, which provides 145 beds to serve unsheltered individuals and is one of just a handful of newly constructed transitional sites in the five boroughs. And with another 106 beds expected to open this year, we will have tripled our capacity to serve unsheltered New Yorkers in safe haven housing over just the past three years alone.
Permanent supportive housing remains the core of our mission at Breaking Ground, and 2024 marked another year of progress in expanding those crucial resources with the acquisition of 1760 Third Avenue, which at 434 apartments will become the third largest such residence in the country upon its retrofitting. With more than 2,000 units of housing in our pipeline, Breaking Ground is working every day to expand opportunities for vulnerable New Yorkers to have lasting stability.
We are pleased to release our full 2024 Impact Report below. Thanks to you, our community of supporters, we will continue to envision and build a future where everyone has a home.
