Campaign for a New York/New York III Agreement

The Campaign for a New York/New York III Agreement welcomes the announcement of a "New York/New York III Agreement" to provide 9,000 units of supportive housing for homeless and at-risk individuals and families in New york City. The new agreement is a significant first step in providing supportive housing for homeless New Yorkers living with mental illness and other disabilities.

The New York/New York III Agreement: A Significant First Step

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On November 3, 2005, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki signed the “New York/New York III Agreement,” which will, over the next ten years, provide 9,000 units of supportive housing for homeless and at-risk individuals and families in New York City. The agreement represents a major step forward in ensuring that homeless New Yorkers living with mental illness and other disabilities can obtain affordable housing with support services. Moreover, it represents the culmination of years of hard work and advocacy by supportive housing providers, mental health organizations, homeless service providers, advocacy groups, and most important, homeless and formerly-homeless New Yorkers.

For many years the “Campaign for a New York/New York III Agreement” has been calling for a renewed City-State agreement to create 9,000 units of supportive housing for homeless New Yorkers over five years – 7,500 units for homeless individuals living with mental illness, and 1,500 units for homeless families living with mental illness and other special needs. While the new “New York/New York III Agreement” does not achieve this goal, it nevertheless represents a major step forward and is the largest commitment of supportive housing resources since the “New York/New York II Agreement” was signed in 1999.

In the table appended to this briefing paper is a breakdown of the housing units that will be provided over the next decade in the new “New York/New York III Agreement.” While the commitment is indeed substantial, there remain several issues that cause concern and some unanswered questions:

The agreement covers ten years, and many of the units committed will not appear until the later years of the plan. Of the 9,000 units included in the agreement, 6,250 units involve development of new housing ("capital" units) and 2,750 units – 30 percent of the total – are scattered-site units. Much of the capital development included in the agreement is “back-loaded” to the later years of the plan. For instance, two-thirds of the new capital units for homeless adults living with serious and persistent mental illnesses – 2,051 of 3,200 capital units – are not scheduled to come on-line until after 2011.
The agreement will provide supportive housing to at least 4,350 homeless households with a head of household diagnosed with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI) or mental illness and chemical addiction (MICA) – 3,950 homeless individuals, and 400 homeless families with a SPMI or MICA head of household. Another 1,000 units are provided for homeless individuals living with HIV/AIDS who have a co-occurring diagnosis of SPMI, MICA, or a substance abuse disorder. Thus, in the spirit of the first two “New York/New York Agreements,” the new agreement provides supportive housing for between at least 4,350 and as many as 5,350 homeless New Yorkers living with mental illness.
At least 1,400 and as many as 2,150 units are targeted to households who are not currently homeless – including 1,000 units for residents of State psychiatric facilities, 200 units for youth leaving foster care, and 200 units for youth in State residential facilities. An additional 750 units are targeted to homeless or at-risk families with a head of household who has HIV/AIDS, a substance abuse disorder, or a serious medical condition. Thus, a significant number of units in the agreement are not targeted to New Yorkers who are currently homeless.
Finally, a press release issued by the City referred to an additional 3,000 units of supportive housing that will be provided by the City over the next decade, but did not offer details on those units. Those additional units are intended to fulfill the Mayor's June 2004 commitment to create 12,000 units of supportive housing for homeless people over ten years.

However, despite these questions and concerns and the work left to be done, the “New York/New York III Agreement” is indeed reason to celebrate. Coalition for the Homeless expresses its gratitude to Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki for this significant agreement, and to the literally thousands of people who participated in the “Campaign for a New York/New York III Agreement” over the past few years.

Over the coming months the Coalition will urge improvements of the agreement, in particular accelerating the development of new capital housing units for homeless individuals living with mental illness. And we will continue in our efforts to ensure that every homeless individual living with mental illness or other special needs can secure affordable housing with support services.

Research on New York/New York Housing

Research has shown that New York/New York housing is a proven, cost-effective approach to the problem of homelessness. Following are links to research reports about New York/New York housing.