Check out the letter in today’s New York Times by our very own Elizabeth Hoffman about the critical need for rental subsidies to help families and children access permanent housing.

To the Editor:

Every day, the number of children growing up in homeless shelters in New York City increases — the other night, it was more than 23,600. In fact, family homelessness is at a record high, and lengths of stay in shelters are well over a year.

The city and state are finally taking action to address this by creating new rental subsidy programs to help homeless families and children pay for permanent housing (news article, Aug. 13).

A shelter is no place for a child to grow up. Housing subsidies have proved to be an effective way to enable homeless families to move out of shelters and into affordable housing.

While these programs will not be the solution for all homeless children, families and victims of domestic violence, bringing back a housing subsidy program is a step in the right direction. We applaud Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio on their agreement to invest substantial funding in these programs.

ELIZABETH HOFFMAN
New York, Aug. 14, 2014

The writer is policy associate for housing and homelessness, Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York.

Learn more about our recommendations for a new housing subsidy program in New York City in our report released in January of this year.