New York, NY, May 16, 2025 — HousingPlus will honor its founder and executive director of more than 20 years — housing advocate and changemaker Rita Zimmer — at the annual Good Person Awards Celebration. In 2002, Rita Zimmer founded HousingPlus, which focuses on creating permanent and transitional supportive housing for women and families. In 2025, Rita retired from her post as executive director of HousingPlus and opened a new chapter of her career.
HousingPlus is hosting this year’s Good Person Awards in Rita’s honor. At the event, she will receive the Inaugural Legacy Award in recognition of her more than 40 years of tireless work in shelter, housing, and supportive services for populations at risk of homelessness. These accomplishments include serving hundreds of families, starting with a single brownstone with barely a dozen tenants in 2002 to approximately 550 people living in HousingPlus apartments today, predominantly in the neighborhood of East New York, Brooklyn.
Rita champions those often overlooked, fiercely advocating for those in need. By encouraging and empowering others to join her, she has built a community of friends and allies who share her vision for a more equitable society. Rita’s passion is infectious, and her ability to unite people under a common purpose has been a powerful force for change. Her legacy reminds us of all that is possible when we come together.
The Good Person Awards Celebration is an annual benefit hosted by HousingPlus. In addition to honoring the founder of HousingPlus, it honors a special tenant or tenants of HousingPlus apartments who have made a significant contribution to the community. This year, Rita will be joined by several of the important people who supported and sustained her during the past 23 years of growing HousingPlus to what it is today.
Vanessa Freeman, anchor of the Emmy Award-winning PIX11 Morning News, will emcee this year’s Celebration. Ms. Freeman has been a committed friend to HousingPlus, hosting the Good Person Awards Celebration in 2024.
Event Details
Good Person Awards Celebration
Thursday, June 5, 2025
6:00 pm
The Prince George Ballroom, New York City
About HousingPlus
Founded in 2003, HousingPlus is a New York City-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides community-based housing and comprehensive support services to women, including those with children, impacted by poverty, homelessness, trauma, addiction, and incarceration. HousingPlus empowers women to achieve stability and define meaningful goals for themselves and their families. The organization has earned top scores in 2023 and 2024 in the Annual Continuum of Care Evaluation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), ranking first among more than 150 housing service providers in New York City. For more information, please visit housingplusnyc.org.
HousingPlus Contact:
Michelle Bova
(347) 897-4843
michelle@housingplusnyc.org
