Mercy Haven provides housing to formerly homeless in Central Islip complex

After lacking permanent housing for years and carrying around a handful of house keys — all to places she temporarily stayed — Lisa Aderhold now has just one set of keys to a place of her own. 

Mercy Haven, an Islip Terrace-based nonprofit that provides housing for people experiencing homelessness, built its first Central Islip complex earlier this year. The nearly $6 million project, which has 19 units in two buildings, was made possible mostly by state grants. For tenants like Aderhold, the complex provides their first stable housing in months — or even years. 

So far, 22 people have moved into their new homes, where they live independently in private apartments or with their families in larger residences. Tenants pay 30% of their income for rent, so the cost varies, development director Ciara Jensen said. Mercy Haven also provides tenants with work, mental health and social service resources, she said. 

“I can’t believe how lucky I got,” Aderhold said. “I wake up every morning and I can't believe I have a home.” 

Aderhold, 55, moved into her apartment in May after being homeless for four years. She went from being a graphic designer Brooklynite making a six-figure annual salary to being unhoused after her partner developed Parkinson’s disease, a progressive brain disorder.

Facing a mountain of medical debt and unable to care for her partner, Aderhold said she became homeless in 2016 when her partner entered a full-time care facility. From there, Aderhold bounced between shelters and friends’ homes before spending a year in hospitals and later a group home. While she admits she could have been more judicious with her finances, it was ultimately an estimated $50,000 in medical bills that she couldn’t pay that led to her losing her residence, she said. 

“People are just a diagnosis away from financial disaster,” Aderhold said. “The biggest thing is that people assume that you must have done something very bad to become homeless. That’s not necessarily so.” 

With the rising cost of living, inflation and lack of affordable housing, many Long Islanders and New Yorkers could face homelessness themselves, said Charlene Birden, a community service specialist at Mercy Haven, who also works part time at Long Island shelters and was homeless for three years. 

“I see the influx of families coming in, because there’s a lack of affordability on Long Island,” she said. “Long Island really needs to know if we don’t address this, we’re going to have more homelessness.” 

Jeremie Barreto, 36, is one of several families living at the Central Islip complex. He experienced homelessness for 18 months before moving to his new home in May. Barreto was convicted of robbery charges in 2006, making it difficult to find housing, he said. For seven months, he and his three children stayed in a family shelter together where they lived in a single room. 

Now, his children have a yard to play in. 

“I’m grateful to see the other side because some people don't have that,” he said. “Not everybody who is homeless is dangerous or diseased, or whatever people think. People that are homeless are just like you.”

By Brinley Hineman

brinley.hineman@newsday.com

Brinley Hineman covers the Town of Hempstead and the City of Long Beach for Newsday. She previously was a reporter in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a West Virginia native.