NEW YORK, NY – The following statement is in response to the City releasing new data on affordable housing for the homeless, seniors, and those in need of supportive services. Statement attributed to Jacquelyn Simone, Policy Analyst at Coalition for the Homeless: “Every summer, like clockwork, Mayor de Blasio trots out a blizzard of gauzy housing numbers that obscure this reality: His housing plan is doing nothing to reduce record levels of homelessness. Missing from today’s announcement were these facts: Of the 25,299 apartments financed in FY19, only 9,029 (35.7%) were new construction. The other 64.3% were preservation. The overall number of apartments financed dropped from FY18 (32,244) to FY19 (25,299). Critically, the number of extremely low-income apartments financed dropped from FY18 (6,130) to FY19 (5,341). The number of very low-income apartments also dropped from FY18 (12,236) to FY 19 (8,486). The number of apartments for homeless households financed in FY19 (2,682) is woefully inadequate given the scale of the need. To date, just 8.5% of the total 135,437 HNY apartments financed have been set-aside for homeless New Yorkers. And most of these are preservation of already-occupied apartments, and therefore do nothing to help the thousands of homeless families and individuals currently relegated to shelters. The House Our Future NY Campaign, made up of dozens of advocates and groups across the City, has long called for Mayor de Blasio to increase the total number of apartments for homeless families and individuals created by his housing plan to 30,000 – 10% of his overall 300,000-unit plan – including 24,000 to be created through new construction. Until the Mayor prioritizes homeless New Yorkers in his plan, the City will continue spending billions on housing without meaningfully reducing homelessness.”
