Mayor Bloomberg's Flawed "Housing Stability Plus" Program
Coalition for the Homeless has released an analysis of the Bloomberg Administration's controversial new housing assistance policies for homeless families, which break with more than two decades of City policy about targeting scarce Federal housing aid to the neediest New York City households.
Mayor Bloomberg's Flawed "Housing Stability Plus" Program: A Reform Plan
Despite serious flaws that threaten the safety and stability of many formerly homeless New Yorkers, the Bloomberg Administration has made the year-old Housing Stability Plus program the City’s principle tool in re-housing homeless families and individuals. Given dramatic cutbacks in Federal housing assistance and the high cost of emergency shelter, the creation of a rent subsidy program drawing on City, State, and Federal resources is a necessary step in the right direction. However, the Housing Stability Plus program was crafted with significant flaws that will force many vulnerable households to become homeless once again in the coming months.
These flaws in the Housing Stability Plus program include:
- A 20 percent annual reduction in the value of the rent supplement (essentially a whopping rent hike for very low-income families);
- Rules that requiring recipients to stay on public assistance – prohibiting the recipients from working;
- No protections for families from dangerous housing conditions; and
- Illegal demands for "side" payments from landlords.
Currently more than 5,000 formerly homeless New York City households have been relocated from shelters using the Housing Stability Plus program. Over the next year all of those families will face a 20 percent cut in their housing supplement while being prevented from getting a job to make up the difference. At the same time, hundreds of those families continue to reside in buildings that have been cited by the City for severe housing code violations.
Despite flaws in both the structure and implementation of the program, HSP can be reformed in order to create a genuine, effective rental assistance program. In the coming months, Coalition for the Homeless and other housing groups and service providers will urge Mayor Bloomberg and the New York City Council to enact a package of reforms to repair the flaws to the program.
Allow Housing Stability Plus Recipients to Work
Housing Stability Plus program rules prohibit families and individuals from working, and require the maintenance of an active public assistance case in order to receive the rent supplement. This constitutes a work disincentive, forcing individuals and families to maintain an income below the Federal poverty line for the duration of the program despite increasing rent burdens. Families will be forced to make the difficult choice between work and permanent housing. New York City and State should allow recipients to secure employment, in order to ensure that work and self-sufficiency are viable options for HSP recipients.
Eliminate the Annual 20 Percent Reduction in the Value of the Rent Supplement
Few New York families could handle annual 20 percent hikes in their rent, but that is precisely what New York City is asking formerly homeless families to do.
Those households that are able to secure employment sufficient to supplement the annual decline in their rent supplement will have to carefully monitor the income they receive so as not to become ineligible for welfare and, as a result, lose their Housing Stability Plus subsidy altogether. According to a recent Newsday report a single mother earning $6.75 an hour would become disqualified and lose her subsidy.
Families who are unable to make up the 20 percent annual rent supplement reduction, as well as those families unable to consistently maintain their income below the Federal poverty line, will be at risk of returning to the homeless shelter system, at additional cost to taxpayers.
Prohibit Substandard Housing from Receiving Housing Stability Plus Subsidies
Recent reports by both the Housing Here & Now coalition and the Public Advocate’s office make clear that the City allows many buildings with substandard and even hazardous conditions to participate in the Housing Stability Plus program.
Even when apartments are found to have serious violations by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the City does not mandate re-inspections or repairs -- resulting in the placement of hundreds of families in buildings considered to be "unsatisfactory" by the City’s own housing agency.
In order to ensure true housing stability, apartments approved by the City for receipt of an HSP subsidy should be held to the standards established by the New York City Housing Maintenance Code. Buildings with three or more class "B" and "C" violations per unit should not be eligible to receive HSP subsidies. Further the Department of Homeless Services must work with HPD to ensure all units with violations are re-inspected and that adequate repairs are made.
Ban Illegal "Side Deals"
"Side deals," or payments illegally demanded by landlords and brokers in addition to lease rent, are increasingly reported by Housing Stability Plus recipients in amounts ranging as high as $500 per month. Reports from recipients and documentation also indicate that shelter staff, brokers, and landlords encourage homeless families and single adults to accept apartments despite knowledge that a side deal is being requested.
Such "side deals" are illegal. The City should prohibit landlords found to have engaged in side-dealing from receipt of a Housing Stability Plus voucher. Even small amounts of money paid in addition to lease rent jeopardize the ability of the family or individual to maintain stable housing.