NEW YORK, NY – Today, the Family Homelessness Coalition issued the following statement on the New York City Council’s response to Mayor Eric Adams’ Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2023:
“With thousands of New York City families on the brink of homelessness due to the expiration of the state’s eviction moratorium, the Family Homelessness Coalition applauds the New York City Council for proposing critical investments in its response to the Mayor’s FY2023 Preliminary Budget. Advancement of the Council’s priorities would help to ensure families can stay in their homes and out of shelters.
Households with children, especially those headed by women of color, have been hit hardest by the economic insecurity brought on by the pandemic – deepening racial and gender-based disparities in our city. By committing to fully funding rental assistance programs, increasing funding for CityFHEPS, and adequately staffing the Human Resource Administration and Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Council’s budget calls for actions that will help prevent a tidal wave of children and families from entering the shelter system.
The Coalition applauds the Council for fighting for just compensation of the human services workforce, including calling for the City to baseline a 4% COLA. Services have suffered due to high staffing vacancy rates among agencies, and improving wages would help the City hire qualified workers and provide better services to the New Yorkers who need help the most. The Coalition also commends the Council for urging the administration to open Department of Housing Preservation & Development homeless set-aside units and NYC 15/15 supportive housing for domestic violence survivors and their families, as domestic violence continues to be a leading cause of family homelessness in NYC. Additionally, the Coalition thanks the Council for baselining wages for security guards for shelters, prioritizing investments in shelter-based community coordinators who will help address the educational needs of children in shelter, and acknowledging that the shelter intake process must be improved.
Staff at the city’s housing and homelessness agencies do critical work in the fight to end family homelessness, but these agencies are drastically understaffed due to budget cuts. We encourage the Council to fight for adequate funding for agency staff.
We’re at an inflection point. We can end the vicious and chronic cycle of generational homelessness once and for all, and we look forward to working with the Council and Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to ensure New York families have the help and support they need to keep a roof over their heads.”