Posted on December 18, 2018 in Press Release Press Release, Advocates Demand Mayor’s Housing New York 2.0 Plan Include 30,000 Units for Homeless Households, with 24,000 to be Created through New Construction Homelessness Crisis Still at Record Levels, with More Than 23,000 Children and All-Time Record 17,000 Single Adults Sleeping in Shelters Each Night NEW YORK, NY – Advocates with the House Our Future NY coalition and homeless New Yorkers joined faith leaders for a candlelight vigil outside of City Hall today to urge Mayor de Blasio to increase the number of apartments set aside for homeless New Yorkers in his Housing New York 2.0 affordable housing plan to 30,000 units, with 24,000 units to be created through new construction. Despite soaring homelessness in New York City, Mayor de Blasio plans to set aside only 5 percent of his 300,000-unit affordable housing plan for homeless New Yorkers, with most of those units created through preservation (thus remaining unavailable for years). His plan creates twice as many units for households who can afford rents above $2,500 than it does for homeless families and individuals. Tonight alone, nearly 64,000 men, women, and children will sleep in shelters – an all-time record. House Our Future NY is an advocacy campaign formed by Coalition for the Homeless and 61 partner organizations, as well as homeless men, women, and children and other caring New Yorkers. “The holidays give us some time to reflect and give back. It is not easy to see someone try to survive the winter on the streets of our city. We are currently at a record of nearly 64,000 homeless people in shelters every night, with thousands more braving the elements on the streets,” said Giselle Routhier, Policy Director at Coalition for the Homeless. “We are proud to stand with faith leaders to demand that Mayor de Blasio act immediately, that he use all the tools he has available – including his affordable housing plan – to remedy this record-breaking crisis and give our homeless neighbors permanent homes of their own.” “The present-day tragedy of homelessness in New York City, in the midst of the greatest wealth the world has ever seen, goes against the very core values of virtually each and every one of the great faith traditions. Members of New York’s numerous faith communities have for many decades dedicated their resources and labor and prayers to serve the most vulnerable of our human family and we have been encouraged by the recent efforts of our current elected representatives to bring new resources to bear,” said Marc Greenberg, Executive Director at Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness & Housing. “We, today, call on Mayor De Blasio and his administration, in partnership with the New York City Council to build on their good efforts and go further by taking the bold and visionary step of committing to include 30,000 units of housing, including 24,000 of new construction, in his historic 300,000 unit housing plan and truly TURN THE TIDE on the homeless crisis so that all New Yorkers can live in dignity and fully contribute to the life of our great city.” ### House Our Future NY Endorsing Organizations: The Ali Forney Center Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association, Inc. Barrier Free Living Broadway Housing Communities Bronx Health & Housing Consortium Care for the Homeless CitiLeaf Housing Citizens’ Committee for Children Coalition for Homeless Youth Coalition for the Homeless College and Community Fellowship The Collegiate Churches of New York Community Access Community Service Society Comunilife Covenant House New York Emergency Shelter Network Encore Community Services Gateway Housing GEMS Harm Reduction Coalition Henry Street Settlement Homeless Services United Hope’s Door Housing Conservation Coordinators Housing Works Human.nyc Hunger Action Network of NYS Hunger Free America Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing Kingdom Faith Developers Lab/Shul The Legal Aid Society Mekong NYC Midtown South Community Council Mutual Housing Association of NY (MHANY) My Dog is My Home National Working Positive Coalition Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter Neighbors Together New Destiny Housing New York Communities for Change New York Society for Ethical Culture New York State Council of Churches Partnership for the Homeless Picture the Homeless Presbyterian Church (USA) Safe Horizon Services for the UnderServed Sisters of Charity of New York Society for the Advancement of Judaism St Ann’s Church of Morrisania Strong Families Deliverance Ministries Inc. Tenants & Neighbors Tenants Political Action Committee University Settlement and The Door Urban Justice Center Urban Pathways VOCAL NY WE ACT For Environmental Justice Win
