HOMELESS GROUP GETS NEW DIRECTOR

By [Dan Rivoli] Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter, an Upper East Side organization that provides services for the homeless, has a new executive director, as CEO Anne Teicher stepped down after 15 years. Dr. Ira Mandelker will take over as executive director of the Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter. Mandelker dealt with homeless New Yorkers as associate director of Grand Central Neighborhood Social Services, a city drop-in center. But he spent the last decade in Albany as director of the Homeless & Travelers Aid Society, which serves the state"s Capital district. Though New York"s homeless population is larger, Mandelker said that there are similarities between New York City and Albany"s homeless problems. â??Some of the problems are very much the same, [such as] lack of affordable housing, lack of community mental health and treatment services, Mandelker said. â??This is a population that is profoundly disabled and needs an extraordinary amount of support and assistance to stay housed.