Posted on June 13, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone There are only three days left in the State legislative session – but thousands of homeless New Yorkers are still waiting for Gov. Cuomo to follow through on a promise he made in his State of the State address 152 days ago. The State budget delivered on April 1st allocated $2 billion to affordable and supportive housing – including funding for the first 6,000 units of an historic 20,000-unit supportive housing commitment. However, the budget subjected these funds to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to be signed by the Governor, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. The State leaders have publicly recognized that supportive housing is a cost-effective, compassionate model proven to break the cycle of homelessness for our most vulnerable neighbors – and yet, with the clock running out, this MOU has still not been signed. Without it, the $2 billion will go unspent. Meanwhile, supportive housing providers are waiting to build new units to meet the unprecedented demand, and homeless New Yorkers are waiting for the dignity of a home and vital support services. The time is now: Governor Cuomo and the legislative leaders must SIGN THE MOU! David Howard King writes in the Gotham Gazette: “Everything in housing is tied together: 421-a, NYCHA and [the MOU],” said Shelly Nortz, executive director of policy for Coalition for the Homeless. “I know there is no hope whatsoever it will get done after June 16,” she added referring to the notion that once legislators leave Albany they are unlikely to come to any policy decisions. A coalition called The Campaign for NY/NY Housing, which fights for supportive housing – homelessness relief with social services built in – and counts over 100 interested groups in its ranks, has recently turned up pressure on Cuomo and legislative leaders with a major lobbying campaign designed to get them to act. “We are very concerned,” said Laura Masuch, executive director of The Supportive Housing Network of New York. “We have 80,000 homeless in the state of New York and supportive housing is critical – especially for families with special needs. It takes a lot of time to open these units, so every day we wait is a day we don’t get a family off the street.” … Nortz said that if the MOU isn’t signed before the end of session it will “raise real questions” about Cuomo’s commitment to the homeless and to affordable housing. “If he wants it done it will get done. This is the governor who managed to get the Senate to pass marriage equality; this is the governor who got a $15 minimum wage when he didn’t even believe in it a year before. We know what he can do when he wants to,” said Nortz.
