Categories: Funding, New York State
03.10.2026
The Network released the following updated statement on March 13th, in response to the New York State Senate and Assembly one-house budget proposals.
We are pleased to see the Senate and Assembly one-house budget proposals build on Governor Hochul’s Executive Budget and provide additional resources for supportive housing and the essential nonprofit human services workforce. We are grateful to our legislative champions for fighting for these additions.
We recognize this is a challenging fiscal time and appreciate the recognition in Albany that supportive housing requires resources to ensure New Yorkers have access to safe, deeply affordable housing and services that address the underlying causes of homelessness.
In particular, the Senate included an additional $8 million above Governor Hochul’s proposed 4% increase for the New York State Supportive Housing Program (NYSSHP), which would help address budget deficits, strained social services and insufficient security and building maintenance.
While this remains short of the $62.1 million the Network has calculated is needed as part of a five-year, phased-in plan to fully protect the more than 9,000 NYSSHP units at risk of going offline, any increase is welcome. We are grateful for the Senate’s recognition of this program and the effort to support some of our state’s most vulnerable residents and the nonprofits who serve them.
Both the Senate and Assembly also included a substantial 4% targeted inflationary increase (TII) and reflects an understanding of the unprecedented inflation, cost-of-living, and operating increases providers have faced over the past several years.
The Senate requested that 1.3% of that increase go toward salaries, and the Assembly requested 2.3%. A living wage that recognizes our workforce is struggling in the face of the affordability crisis that has gripped the entire state is not just about fairness, it is critical to recruiting and retaining qualified staff. We appreciate the Senate and Assembly’s recognition of this need.
The Assembly has also proposed an additional $100 million for the Homeless Housing Assistance Program (HHAP), which provides essential capital for the development and preservation of supportive housing. This is very encouraging, while slightly short of the Network’s estimated need of an additional $128 million.
Housing and ending homelessness must be a priority in the affordability agenda and we will continue to fight for additional resources throughout the remainder of this year’s budget process and beyond.