We applaud the Adams administration for prioritizing affordable housing in New York City with its release of the comprehensive Housing Our Neighbors Blueprint. We are very glad to see that the City is taking an integrated approach to solving the housing crisis, by coordinating its plans for improving public housing, combating homelessness and more. The need for all City agencies to work together to keep New Yorkers housed is more important than ever. We hope that the newly enacted City budget includes sufficient funding for staffing at the agencies HPD, DHS, HRA and the CCHR, as this will be critical to realizing this ambitious housing plan.
We are especially heartened to see that the crucial housing subsidy CityFHEPS has been funded in full; this program will continue to provide rental assistance to homeless New Yorkers and those at risk of eviction. We also welcome the City’s plans to expand paths to affordable homeownership. In addition, we are pleased that this budget includes a 4% cost-of-living salary adjustment for the City’s human services workers, a sector which has long been uniformly underpaid.
Further, we commend the City for committing to lift up MBE development partners, increase enforcement of Source of Income discrimination laws, support small landlords in maintaining housing quality and affordability, address family homelessness and reduce the administrative burden associated with accessing housing assistance programs, including the Housing Connect lottery program. We look forward to working with City Hall, HPD and other city agencies to help operationalize these commitments, and to our continued partnership on critical programs recognized in the Blueprint including Medicaid Together, the Faith Based Development InitiativeSM and Community Land Trusts.
However, we are concerned that the $2.5 billion per year that this budget allocates in capital funding for affordable housing is nowhere near the amount needed to maintain and increase the City’s affordable housing supply. We urge the administration and the City Council to explore the addition of funds that our city agencies and New Yorkers need, and we are eager to work with the City to make sure this funding is included in future budgets.