Categories: New York State
12.18.2023
On December 18th, the Network’s Executive Director Pascale Leone testified at the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Housing to advocate for modernizing the 30+-year old New York State Supportive Housing Program (NYSSHP) whose rates have remained essentially the same since inception. Pascale explained that the chronic underfunding of NYSSHP has left 9,000 units of supportive housing at risk and proposed the simple solution of converting these units to New York State’s better-funded Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative (ESSHI) through a five-year, phased-in approach. This plan would eventually create fiscal parity among supportive housing units across New York.
Pascale stressed the fact that underfunding of NYSSHP has put vulnerable individuals and families – disproportionately Black people and people of color who are coping with disabling conditions – at risk of returning to homelessness. Chronic underfunding has also exacerbated the already-significant staffing shortage in supportive housing. Additionally, she noted the strong community-wide support of the Network’s NYSSHP campaign, with 146 organizations signed onto the campaign’s letter to Governor Hochul.
Read the Network’s full testimony HERE.