Categories: New York City
02.13.2014
Budget includes HASA rent cap, 76 new shelter beds for homeless youth
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio released his first preliminary budget yesterday. The document, available here, includes no major cuts and new funding in a few targeted priority areas, including housing and homelessness.
Delivering on a campaign promise, the mayor joined Governor Andrew Cuomo to cap the maximum contribution tenants receiving rent subsidies from the HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) must pay toward rent. The new budget allocates $4.3 million in fiscal year 2014 and $17.4 in FY 2015 to cap the rent contribution for HIV/AIDS housing clients at 30 percent. The state is picking up one-third of the cost.
The mayor also indicated that he is talking with the governor about a homelessness prevention pilot, which will fund rental assistance and anti-eviction legal services, among other prevention services. The budget contains no additional information, but there will be an announcement in the future.
The mayor also announced new funding for homeless and runaway youth. His budget provides $1.3 million in FY 2014 and $2.4 million in FY 2015 to add 76 shelter beds for the city’s homeless and runaway youth. He said services will include “emergency housing, food, clothing, individual and group housing, and limited transportation services.”
The mayor’s budget also directs $1.3 million in FY 2014 to improve security and programming at the Auburn and Catherine Street Shelters. In addition, the preliminary budget restores to the NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS) $9.3 million in FY 2014 and $19.1 million in FY 2015, funding that was cut in the previous administration’s November modification plan. According to the administration, “this funding means that families that don’t know each other won’t be forced to live together in a shared apartment.”
There is also funding to improve access to mental health services. The budget restores $4.1 million in FY 2014 and $4.8 million in FY 2015 of funding cut from Mayor Bloomberg’s November budget plan that supported community-based mental health providers and immunization clinics.
Finally, the mayor also delivered on a campaign promise to cancel the NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) police payment to New York City. Starting this current fiscal year, NYCHA will no longer contribute for police services. This move saves $52.5 million that NYCHA can invest in repairs and maintenance. The mayor added $52.5 million back to the police department for the current fiscal year.
The mayor also indicated that his capital budget will be released in April, and that budget will have more information on his housing plan. The Housing First! affordable housing campaign (of which the Network is a member) this week released a briefing paper that estimates the City must allocate $604 million in the FY 2015 capital housing budget, and $6 billion over ten years, in order to achieve his affordable housing plan’s 200,000-unit goal.
The Network joined our allies in Housing First!, United to End Homelessness and other campaigns in advocating for many of these improvements and additions to the NYC budget. We thank Mayor de Blasio and his team for including them in a progressive proposal that addresses some longstanding challenges, and we look forward to working with the administration to secure these and other improvements in the coming months.
Photo: New York City Mayor's Office