April 8, 2017 The Coalition for the Homeless today released the following statement on behalf of Deputy Executive Director for Policy Shelly Nortz: “We would like to thank Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature for finally releasing the $2.5 billion for supportive and affordable housing dollars first appropriated more than a year ago, including $1 billion to build the first 6,000 of the 20,000 units of supportive housing Gov. Cuomo promised in his 2016 budget address. This is a win for homeless New Yorkers. Supportive housing is a proven, cost-effective solution to homelessness, but today there are not enough units available to house five out of every six New Yorkers who qualify. We call on the Governor, Legislature, Mayor, and City Council to ramp up the production of this housing as quickly as possible and add the resources needed to fully fund all of the promised housing ahead of schedule so that homeless people will have homes of their own. “We are disappointed that Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi’s widely endorsed Home Stability Support (HSS) proposal, which would have established a statewide rent subsidy for New Yorkers at risk of homelessness, is not included in this year’s budget. Home Stability Support would have protected thousands of New Yorkers from the trauma of homelessness while simultaneously saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars for the cost of sheltering record numbers of homeless families. We urge Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature to embrace solutions to homelessness that match the scale of the problem and pass legislation authorizing HSS immediately.”
