FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 11, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 29
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How the new governor can help the new mayor on homelessness
BY TED HOUGHTON
Aft er a long campaign, Eric Adams
will soon take offi ce as New York City’s
new mayor, and just about the only thing
we can be sure of is that it won’t be long
before his administration will be accused
of not doing enough to reduce homelessness.
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New Yorkers always hold their mayors
accountable for New York City’s longstanding
housing aff ordability crisis, but
this is hardly fair. Our leaders in Albany
have a key role to play, too.
With New York’s new governor, Kathy
Hochul, promising “a whole new era of
cooperation” between the state and the
city, and a progressive Legislature eager to
make a dent in the problem, real change
could be on the horizon. Th is mayor may
fi nally get the state support he needs to
end homelessness as we know it.
To give the newly elected Mayor Adams
a head start on homelessness and housing,
Governor Hochul and the Legislature can
take a few important actions in the next
few months:
First – before the state legislative session
even begins in January – Governor
Hochul can make sure the Emergency
Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) continues
to get desperately needed federal
dollars to tenants and landlords adversely
aff ected by the pandemic. Governor
Hochul’s leadership has already transformed
New York from being the slowest
state at distributing this critical aid to
being one of the fastest. Her eff orts should
be celebrated. But more than 90% of New
York’s share of ERAP has now been distributed,
two months before the state’s
eviction moratorium expires, when the
households most likely to become homeless
will fi nally apply for assistance. Th e
governor must persist, and succeed, in
her eff orts to get Washington to reallocate
ERAP funds unspent by other states to
New York, or homelessness could explode
in the new mayor’s fi rst few months.
Second, Governor Hochul can immediately
sign S6573/A8009 (Kavanagh/
Rosenthal) to increase how much rent can
be paid by the state’s Family Homelessness
Eviction Prevention Supplement
(FHEPS), the rental voucher for homeless
and at-risk households. An increase in
the payment standard of the state’s rental
voucher is long overdue, and will align
it with the rates the city voucher pays,
which were recently increased to match
federal voucher rates, to better refl ect the
true cost of renting in New York City.
Of course, that’s not all the governor
can do on rent subsidies. Helping vulnerable
families and individuals pay their
rent is the single best way to prevent
and end homelessness. But Section 8,
the federal rent subsidy, reaches only one
out of every fi ve poor households who
qualify for it.
New York City has responded to this
need by creating locally funded vouchers,
but the state has repeatedly refused to
pay its fair share of the costs. In response,
the Legislature has advocated establishing
new, state-funded rental vouchers, most
recently under the proposed Housing
Stability Support (HSS) program and
the Housing Access Voucher Program
(HAVP). Governor Hochul can demonstrate
real partnership with Mayor Adams
and fund both of these desperately needed
programs on a scale that will signifi -
cantly reduce homelessness. Th is will not
only help New York City, it will help localities
across the state. It is long past time
for the state to step up and help to house
struggling New Yorkers.
Finally, Governor Hochul can ensure
the state lives up to its historic role of
caring for our most vulnerable, disabled
and homeless residents. She can start by
increasing the number of long-term state
psychiatric beds made available to individuals
suff ering mental health crises.
But housing is the solution to homelessness,
so it’s imperative Governor Hochul
increase the state’s production of permanent
supportive housing. She can demonstrate
true leadership and improve on
— and accelerate — Governor Cuomo’s
promise to create 20,000 new supportive
housing apartments for homeless New
Yorkers. And to make sure we don’t lose
the supportive housing units New York’s
nonprofi ts have already built, Governor
Hochul must also set aside funding to preserve
and maintain in good repair those
now-aging supportive housing units.
Th is commitment must be made now,
so that production of desperately needed
supportive housing units doesn’t slow
down. But it will be even more signifi cant
if it is incorporated into a new city-state
supportive housing agreement with the
new mayor (and mayors of big cities all
over the state, for that matter). Th ree previous
agreements comprise the most successful
aff ordable housing development
initiatives ever, pooling state and city
resources to create thousands of aff ordable
apartments for formerly homeless
individuals and families supported with
on-site services. Th e unique structure of
these agreements ensured the city and the
state would hold each other to their individual
commitments, and helped the initiatives
survive the administrations of fi ve
mayors and fi ve governors.
Th e state has long had responsibility
for meeting the housing needs of vulnerable
New Yorkers, including individuals
with mental illness, families made
homeless by domestic violence and the
thousands of people being released from
state prisons who are now overwhelming
the shelter systems in New York City and
across the state. And homelessness has
long been an enormous, structural economic
and social crisis beyond the ability
of localities to address on their own.
But with a Legislature and new governor
eager to help, Mayor Adams may just have
a chance to make real progress housing
homeless New Yorkers.
Ted Houghton is the president of Gateway
Housing and former executive deputy commissioner
of NYS Homes and Community
Renewal.
CONGRATULATIONS
TO MAYOR
ELECT ADAMS
At this time, I wish to off er my
congratulations for Mayor-elect
Eric Adams.
We all need to off er our support
for the new incoming mayor,
even if we did not vote for him, as
Mayor-elect Eric Adams will have
a lot on his plate and is expected
to accomplish much for the good
of all the people of New York City.
Th e city has a lot of problems
as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,
as well as several other
issues to address, including crime,
aff ordable housing, homelessness,
mental health issues, rising food
costs and much more.
In my opinion, Eric Adams is
a blue-collar worker who fully
understands the problems of the
poor and the issues facing the
common men and women of this
great city.
As a retired NYPD captain, I
think he will support our fi nest.
I therefore hope and pray he
succeeds for the good of us all!
Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Bellerose
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