Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams this week joined his borough president colleagues from Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island is support of a proposed measure in which the state would provide a rent supplement to families facing homelessness.
Dubbed Home Stability Support (HSS), the funding would begin to address the growing homelessness crisis in New York State. There are currently over 250,000 homeless people annually statewide, including 152,839 school-aged children homeless during the 2017-2018 school year.
HSS will be a new statewide rent supplement for families and individuals who are eligible for public assistance benefits and who are facing eviction, homelessness, or loss of housing due to domestic violence or hazardous living conditions. HSS will be 100% state-funded and will replace all existing optional rent supplements.
Queens Assembly Member Andrew Hevesi was the prime sponsor of the measure with the thinking on average that over 23,000 more people statewide now enter homelessness each year than exit homelessness in the state, and that HSS will stem this tide.
“Everyone should have the right to a safe place to call home regardless of their socioeconomic status or personal circumstances. Too many of our fellow New Yorkers find themselves on the doorstep of homelessness, struggling to pay the rent, and threatened with losing their home and livelihood on a daily basis. Home Stability Support is a critical, cost-saving, and bipartisan solution that will help combat the affordability crisis facing our state,” said Adams.
Adams support comes as a number of lawmakers in the borough with various political views are backing HSS, especially as both the cots and sheer numbers of homeless shelters are growing.
“Safe, secure housing can provide hope for our most vulnerable New Yorkers who yearn for a better life for themselves and their children,” said Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach), Chair of the Assembly’s Housing Committee. “The Home Stability Support Program is a powerful tool for easing the state’s homeless crisis and helping thousands of people to become fully engaged members of our communities.”
“Having stable shelter is a key building block for success for families, neighborhoods and all New Yorkers. Funding Home Stability Support is an important investment that can keep people in their homes as well as save taxpayers money,” said Assistant-Speaker Felix Ortiz (D-Sunset Park, Red Hook).
“I am concerned and disheartened by the high rates of home insecure students in my district. Unfortunately, New York has a rising homelessness problem that affects everyone. Secure housing is an essential human need that is steadily growing out of reach for many New Yorkers. Home Stability Support offers a serious and innovative solution,” said Senator Simcha Felder (D-Borough Park, Flatbush, Midwood).
“No one deserves to be homeless, and it is tragic that youth make up the majority of this growing crisis in New York,” said Senator Roxanne J. Persaud, (D-Canarsie, Mill Basin, East New York, Brownsville), Chair of the Senate Social Services Committee. “I support the HSS initiative in its efforts to keep our struggling individuals and families in their homes and off the streets.”
