Sunday, February 15, 2015

State homeless' gain is city homeless' loss

From Crains:

Supportive-housing developers are already snapping up development sites throughout the city in anticipation that the new funding agreement laid out in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's preliminary budget will be passed this spring. But even as the city's homeless population has doubled since the last such accord 10 years ago, known as NY NY III, the upcoming pact looks like it will provide fewer resources to the Big Apple, according to concerned advocates who are lobbying for a larger commitment.

Now Mr. Cuomo is proposing to help fund 5,000 units of supportive housing over five years — with the catch that other municipalities across the state will be able to take advantage of the funds, rather than just its largest city.

While housing advocates are pleased that Albany is casting a wider net, it will almost certainly mean the five boroughs will receive a smaller sum, even as homelessness has doubled over the past decade, to 60,000 people today. And while the city approves roughly 20,000 people for supportive-housing applications annually, only one in six actually gets a unit.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Build homeless shelters on the state capito's grounds.