8 DECEMBER 22, 2016 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM Board 5 likes new homeless relief program BY ANTHONY GIUDICE AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM @A_GIUDICEREPORT As the city continues to see record high numbers of homeless people and the fi nal fate of the Maspeth homeless shelter still hanging in the balance, members of Community Board 5 (CB 5) voted to support one local lawmaker’s initiative to help keep residents in their homes. The board voted 32-2, with three abstentions, in favor of supporting Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi’s Home Stability Support (HSS) plan during their monthly meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 14, at Christ the King High School in Middle Village. But the vote was not without some hesitation from board members who were concerned with the plan itself. Some members wanted the board to obtain more information about HSS, specifi cally its bureaucratic structure, before making a formal opinion about it. Despite the skepticism, many board members believe the HSS plan would help stem the growing number of homeless in the city, and that it is better than the current programs, such as using hotels as temporary homeless shelters. “We’re in a desperate situation here, using these hotels temporarily,” said Walter Sanchez, the board’s Land Use Committee chair. The bill might get changed, it’ll get altered, we have a lot of questions about it later on. Let’s vote in support of this bill for now, get it going.” The HSS plan aims to create a new statewide rent supplement for families and individuals who are eligible for public assistance benefi ts that are facing eviction, homelessness or loss of housing due to domestic violence or other hazardous living conditions. Since shelter allowances were created in 1975, the amount given to people and families in need has remained almost stagnant, while the cost of renting or owning a home have risen astronomically, meaning more people are either becoming homeless or are on the brink of homelessness. According to estimates, the HSS plan would cost $11,224 per year in subsidies to keep a household of three in their home in New York City, while keeping that same family in a shelter would cost $38,460. Middle Village group says out-of-town homeless have no ‘right-to-shelter’ here Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi visited the Juniper Park Civic Association to talk about his Home Stability Support plan. BY ANTHONY GIUDICE AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM @A_GIUDICEREPORT Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi and members of the Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA) got into a debate at the group’s meeting on Dec. 15 in Middle Village over the lawmaker’s proposed Home Stability Support (HSS) program. Hevesi told residents at Our Lady of Hope School in Middle Village that his HSS plan will create a new statewide rent supplement for families and individuals who are eligible for public assistance and who are facing either eviction, homelessness or loss of housing due to domestic violence or other hazardous living conditions. This new rent supplement would be a bridge between the current shelter allowance — which hasn’t seen an increase in decades — and 85 percent of the fair market rent determined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). While JPCA members agreed that the HSS plan was a good idea in theory, they felt that Hevesi’s initiative may make New York a much more attractive option for homeless residents of other cities across the country, enticing them to come to New York for free benefi ts. Hevesi did agree that his program, just like any other city program, could be susceptible to people gaming the system, but argued that the number of homeless individuals from out of state are far less than what the JPCA thought. “From the last fi scal year — which is about from May 2015 to about May or June of this year — we checked to see how many out-of-state families are in the New York City shelter system, the answer is 54,” Hevesi said. “First of all, the people who are saying no, here’s where the data comes from. And I thought the number was low too, but however, that number represents less than half of 1 percent. The numbers come if you FOIL this, and you can do Photo by Anthony Giudice/QNS this yourself, FOIL the data from the Human Resources Administration (HRA). That’s their data.” However, Christina Wilkinson, an active JPCA member, told Hevesi that the numbers from a FOIL request she made with the Department of Homeless Services’ (DHS) numbers from 2014 show that 17 percent of the homeless in New York City shelters were from out of state. That fi gure would dictate that as many as 10,200 of the estimated 60,000 homeless people living in New York are from out of town. Members of the JPCA want Hevesi to work on changing New York City’s right-to-shelter law, which requires the government to provide any homeless individual with a place to stay. Hevesi said that he is fi rmly against lift ing the right-to-shelter law, and that removing homeless residents from out of state does not solve the core issue of rising homeless numbers, but his HSS initiative does help the bigger problem.
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