Posted on February 6, 2015 The Coalition’s Deputy Executive Director for Policy, Shelly Nortz, testified on Thursday at the State Budget Hearing on Housing in Albany. Ms. Nortz and nearly everyone who testified at the hearing, called on Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature to fully fund a fourth New York/New York Agreement that would provide 30,000 supportive housing units over the next decade in New York City. Of these, 15,000 are new construction, and advocates want the City and State to each build half. The Governor’s proposed NY/NY IV Housing program would only provide an average of 280 new State-funded units of supportive housing in New York City each year for seven years, not nearly enough to adequately address the record numbers of homeless individuals and families in New York City. The Coalition for the Homeless has compared the recommendations of the Campaign 4 New York/New York Housing, of which we are a leader, with the NY/NY III Agreement and the Executive Budget proposal for NYNY IV in New York City to illustrate how the plans compare with one another. Ms. Nortz said, “The graph shows that the vast majority of the NYNY IV units will not be built and then occupied until years three through seven. It provides stark evidence that the proposed plan offers a mere fraction of what New York State needs to do to address homelessness in New York City.” Mayor de Blasio’s housing construction plan includes 7,500 units of supportive housing for a new City-State agreement and advocates are asking the State to match them unit for unit. “It is time to bring supportive housing production up to a level that more responsibly addresses the staggering need. Clearly, there must be a greater investment of State resources to match both the need and the City’s more realistic planned investments,” said Ms. Nortz. To read Ms. Nortz’s testimony, click here.
