Sanchez and Kitchener discuss Helpsy vs Housing Works textile program transition
Sanchez asks why textile bins seem emptier after switching from Housing Works to DSNY's program. Kitchener explains Housing Works was a nonprofit offering tax write-offs while Helpsy is a B Corp that cannot, but Helpsy collects more frequently. Anderson adds Housing Works struggled with logistics at scale.
So you mentioned a partner originally with the residential textile program.
Who is that partner?
Yeah, we partner with a B Corp called Helpsee.
They're doing the textile collection.
Okay.
One of the things is with the residential buildings, one of the things I'm curious about is, so I used to have in my building, for example, it used to be like a Housing Works textile recycling program that had
tabs that you could take off, and it was a tax write-off that you donated your textiles.
And I remember that textile thing being...
Packed all the time.
And now anytime that I pass by the textile thing, it's usually rather empty, but there's a brand new sign that says that now it's the Department of Sanitation one and there is no tax write-off.
So I'm curious to know, is there a difference in the buildings that
you know, in the areas where buildings have that are participating in these programs.
Like, did you have buildings before that had a lot of textile recycling and now don't because they're not getting their tax?
Like, for example, is the Upper West Side not going to be...
Why wouldn't they get their tax write-off?
I think a couple of things there.
So, yeah, our prior...
Our contract was with Housing Works, which is a nonprofit.
Our new contract is with Help C.
It's a B Corp, so they are not technically a nonprofit, so you can't do the tax write-offs.
They do work with Goodwill and a lot of other partners.
A lot of the clothing does end up going to nonprofits, but because they have the B Corp status, they can't actually do the tax donation receipt, unfortunately.
I think the other thing that's happening is that our new partner has been doing much more frequent collections, so you might be seeing the bin empty because it's getting emptied more frequently instead of overflowing.
So we actually think that's a good thing.
Yeah, and I'll just add there that when we had the previous contract with Housing Works, they really struggled to match the scale of the program, which, as we've discussed, is not as big as we'd like it to be.
And there were points toward the end of our agreement with Housing Works where they were subcontracting the collections to HelpSee anyway.
So when we put the contract out for rebid, I think it made sense to go with a provider that could accommodate the scale of the program and that really excelled in the sort of operational capacity.
Housing Works is a fantastic organization.
They do a lot of really good work.
But logistics at that scale, I think, was a challenge for them.
Thank you for that.
But yeah, that was just a thing.
If the tax abatement does anything for folks.