The Institute for Community Living (ICL) operates Borden Avenue Veterans’ Residence within one of New York City’s largest behavioral-health organizations. The financial records reviewed for this report show an organization with more than $214 million in annual revenue and a Borden Avenue program whose underlying annual budget grew from approximately $3.7 million in FY2020 to more than $9.2 million by FY2023 and FY2024.

The size of that investment makes the distribution of Borden Avenue’s funding particularly important. The FY2024 budget shows that only a relatively small portion of the facility’s $9.24 million underlying budget was allocated to food, maintenance and repair, client supplies and furniture, client transportation, and vehicle expenses—the five categories identified in this analysis as most directly connected to residents’ daily living conditions and tangible needs. Much larger amounts were devoted to personnel, counseling, mental-health services, security, administration, fringe benefits and other institutional expenses.

This financial structure should also be considered alongside ICL’s experience operating another large congregate mental-health shelter, Tillary Street, where Gothamist documented serious safety and operational problems before ICL relinquished the facility.

ICL’s Financial Capacity

ICL describes its mission as helping New Yorkers with behavioral-health challenges through housing, healthcare and recovery services. Its transitional-shelter materials describe Borden Avenue as a residence serving 254 veterans struggling with mental-health issues and severe traumatic experiences.

ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer reports that ICL generated $214,328,875 in revenue in FY2025, against $211,818,140 in expenses. Approximately $209.97 million, or 98 percent of revenue, was classified as program-service revenue. ICL reported approximately $144.6 million in assets and nearly $14 million in net assets.

The same IRS-derived records report substantial compensation for senior ICL officials:

• Jody Rudin, CEO: $515,814 compensation + $40,373 other compensation = $556,187
• Glen P. Davis, M.D., Chief Medical Officer: $344,488 + $25,335 = $369,823
• Nikant Ohri, former CFO: $305,716 + $18,953 = $324,669
• Rolf Aaron Lamar, Chief Information Officer: $274,005 + $31,267 = $305,272
• Tamer Seoud, SVP Finance: $253,446 + $24,455 = $277,901

These figures are organization-wide and should not be interpreted as expenses charged to Borden Avenue. Nor does executive compensation, standing alone, establish financial mismanagement. It does demonstrate the scale of ICL and the level of executive, medical, financial and administrative resources available to an organization entrusted with managing publicly funded programs for vulnerable populations.

Charity Navigator currently assigns ICL a 72 percent, Two-Star rating. That assessment applies to ICL as an organization rather than specifically to Borden Avenue.

The Borden Avenue Budget

DHS budget records show substantial growth in Borden Avenue funding. The budget increased from approximately $3.73 million in FY2020 to $7.95 million in FY2021, $8.66 million in FY2022 and approximately $9.24 million in FY2023 and FY2024.

The FY2024 budget provides a more detailed picture of how those resources were allocated:

• Direct Care: $1,644,074
• Mental Health Services Adjustment: $1,580,156
• Contracted Security: $1,088,422
• Fringe Benefits: $805,828
• Counseling: $644,821
• Prevailing Wage Adjustment: $541,135
• Food: $539,473
• Maintenance Personnel: $515,155
• Office Expenses: $394,284
• Administration: $382,613
• Maintenance and Repair: $150,617
• Client Supplies/Furniture: $53,327
• Client Transportation: $32,379
• Vehicle Expenses: $16,844
• Recreation Personnel: $0
• Client Stipends: $0
• Kitchen Personnel: $0
• Underlying FY2024 budget: $9,237,639

The FY2024 form also records an additional “Allowance” of approximately $9.70 million, which raises amended gross/DHS funding to approximately $18.94 million. The supplied budget document does not sufficiently explain the nature of that allowance to characterize the $18.94 million figure as Borden Avenue’s recurring annual operating budget. For that reason, this analysis uses the underlying $9,237,639 figure when calculating expenditure percentages.

Only 8.6 Percent in Five Tangible Client-Care Categories

For purposes of this analysis, five budget categories are identified as most directly connected to residents’ daily living conditions and tangible needs: food, maintenance and repair, client supplies and furniture, client transportation, and vehicle expenses for a total of just $792,640.

That represents just 8.6 percent of Borden Avenue’s $9,237,639 underlying FY2024 budget.

Conversely, approximately 91.4 percent—or $8.45 million—fell outside these five categories.

The 8.6 percent figure should not be interpreted to mean that only 8.6 percent of the budget benefits veterans. Employees, counselors, security officers and administrative operations may all contribute to operating the residence. The calculation instead illustrates how relatively little of the overall budget is identifiable in the five categories selected for this analysis as directly connected to veterans’ food, physical surroundings, supplies and mobility.

Food represented approximately 5.8 percent of the entire budget. Maintenance and repair represented approximately 1.6 percent. Client supplies and furniture represented approximately 0.6 percent, while client transportation accounted for only approximately 0.35 percent.

That allocation is especially striking when compared with some of the facility’s largest institutional expenditures.

Staffing, Counseling, Mental Health and Security

The FY2024 budget allocates $1.64 million to Direct Care, but the supplied budget does not identify the individual positions or activities included within that category. It therefore cannot automatically be characterized as $1.64 million spent directly on veterans. It is more accurately described as a substantial resident-facing staffing expense.

Direct Care, counseling and contracted security alone account for:

• Direct Care: $1,644,074 — 17.8% of the budget
• Counseling: $644,821 — 7.0%
• Contracted Security: $1,088,422 — 11.8%
• Combined: $3,377,317 — 36.6% of the FY2024 budget

The facility also received a separate $1,580,156 Mental Health Services Adjustment. That adjustment should not simply be added to counseling and characterized as counseling expenditures because the budget does not establish that the two categories funded identical services.

Nevertheless, the financial contrast is substantial. Direct Care, counseling and security alone consumed more than four times the amount allocated to the five tangible client-care categories identified in this analysis.

Counseling also presents a legitimate programmatic question because veterans enrolled in VA healthcare may have access to mental-health services through the VA healthcare system. The relevant issue is therefore whether Borden Avenue’s separately funded counseling and clinical services supplement VA treatment in ways that advance veterans through transitional housing or duplicate services otherwise available to enrolled veterans.

A Clinical GPD Program

The VA’s FY2024 Grant and Per Diem award list identifies the City of New York Department of Homeless Services as the recipient for 154 GPD beds, with all 154 classified as Clinical Treatment.

That classification is important. The records do not support an argument that the existence of clinical services is itself inconsistent with the GPD award. The stronger question concerns the effectiveness and balance of those services within a transitional residence.

Borden Avenue is intended to serve homeless veterans during a transition. A clinical component can be part of that process, but the substantial investment in counseling, mental-health services, direct-care staffing and security should ultimately be evaluated by what it accomplishes for veterans.

The Borden Avenue Kitchen

The FY2024 budget allocates $539,473 for food while identifying $0 for kitchen personnel. Project Renewal is reported to operate a culinary school at Borden Avenue.

The Project Renewal material reviewed for this report confirms that the organization operates a Culinary Arts Training Program involving culinary instruction and professional-kitchen experience. This report does not rely upon Project Renewal's reported program statistics or outcomes. The supplied material does not establish the financial terms of the Borden Avenue arrangement, how the kitchen operation is funded, or the extent to which Borden Avenue veterans participate.

If space and facilities within a publicly funded veterans’ residence are being used for an outside culinary program, the financial arrangement and the direct benefit provided to veterans residing at Borden Avenue should be transparent.

ICL’s Experience at Tillary

ICL’s experience operating the Tillary Street Women’s Shelter provides additional context for evaluating its management of large congregate behavioral-health facilities.

An April 2026 Gothamist investigation reported serious problems at the 200-bed shelter, which ICL operated for more than 16 years. The reporting documented at least 260 fights and disputes in 2024, a 72 percent increase from 2019, and found that Tillary’s rate of priority-one serious incidents was more than twice the citywide average for single-adult shelters. The investigation also described resident concerns involving violence, substance use, safety, staff turnover and difficulty obtaining permanent housing.

ICL defended its services and reported that 87 residents had been placed into permanent housing during the previous year, although that was below DHS’s goal of 95. The reporting also recognized that Tillary’s problems extended beyond a single operator and implicated the broader challenges associated with large congregate facilities, differing behavioral-health needs and government oversight. ICL ultimately relinquished operation of Tillary.

Following the investigation, City Council General Welfare Committee Chair Crystal Hudson called for a “real reassessment” of the programs, services and sizes of shelters serving vulnerable and high-needs populations.

Tillary and Borden Avenue serve different populations, and conditions at one facility do not establish conditions at another. The comparison is nevertheless relevant to ICL’s experience operating large congregate facilities serving people with significant behavioral-health needs.

What Does the Investment Produce for Veterans?

The financial record establishes that Borden Avenue is not an underfunded operation. Its underlying FY2024 budget exceeded $9.2 million, while ICL itself operates with more than $214 million in annual revenue.

The question is how those resources are distributed and what they ultimately accomplish.

Only $792,640, or approximately 8.6 percent, of the underlying FY2024 budget was allocated to the five categories identified in this analysis as most directly connected to veterans’ tangible daily needs: food, maintenance and repair, client supplies and furniture, client transportation, and vehicle expenses.

By comparison, Direct Care staffing, counseling and contracted security alone consumed $3.38 million, or approximately 36.6 percent of the entire budget, before considering the separate $1.58 million Mental Health Services Adjustment, administration, fringe benefits and other institutional expenses.

Those figures do not establish that the larger expenditures are unnecessary. They do, however, expose the priorities embedded in the budget and provide a basis for asking whether the balance is appropriate for a veterans’ transitional program.

Sources & References

[1] NYC Department of Homeless Services. Borden Avenue Budget Summary Forms, FY2020–FY2024. ICL Document Production

[2] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Grant and Per Diem Program. VA GPD Program

[3] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. GPD Active Awards. VA GPD Active Awards

[4] Institute for Community Living. Transitional Shelters — Borden Avenue Veterans Residence. ICL Transitional Shelters

[5] ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Institute for Community Living Inc., EIN 13-3306195. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer

[6] Charity Navigator. Institute for Community Living Inc. Charity Navigator

[7] Project Renewal. Culinary Arts Training Program. Project Renewal CATP

[8] New York City Council. Project Renewal Culinary Arts Training Program material identifying Borden Avenue Veterans’ Residence as a program site. NYC Council program material

[9] Borden Avenue Y2024 Allowance ICL Document Production

[10] Giambrone, Andrew and Samantha Max. “NYC Shelters Need ‘Reassessment’ After Gothamist Probe Into Violent Site, Lawmaker Says.” Gothamist, April 29, 2026. Gothamist article

[11] Giambrone, Andrew, and Samantha Max. “Homeless Women Sought Shelter in NYC. They Found Chronic Violence and Dysfunction.” Gothamist, April 30, 2026. Gothamist article

Source note: Budget figures and calculations are preserved from the supplied Part 10 and its identified DHS records. Public links are provided where a reliable source page was located; no URL is invented for project/FOIL material or a cited article whose direct link was not verified.

Editorial disclosure: ChatGPT was used to assist with research organization, analysis, editing, source-link verification, and document design.