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TESTIMONY
Elaina Wood, Housing Director at Housing Works, on NYC Budget Impact on Housing Services and Affordable Housing Development
5:17:17
ยท
135 sec
Elaina Wood criticizes NYC budget cuts and calls for increased investment in housing services and affordable housing development.
- Budget cuts and hiring freezes have damaged critical agencies like Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), Human Resources Administration (HRA), and Department of Homeless Services (DHS), causing delays in housing services.
- Wood calls for a 5.4% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for all human services contracts to address underpayment of housing and homeless service providers.
- She requests expansion of City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) eligibility for clients in transitional housing.
- Housing Works advocates for $2.5 billion in additional new construction and financing annually for the next 5 years to build apartments for homeless and low-income New Yorkers.
Elaina Wood
5:17:17
Hello.
5:17:17
Thank you chairperson Sanchez, members of the committee.
5:17:20
My name is Elena Wood, and I'm the housing director at HousingWorks.
5:17:24
I want to discuss a few main points with you today about the budget and how it affects our clients.
5:17:29
The first is about staffing, so the cuts and hiring freezes over the past year.
5:17:35
I've done tremendous damage with critical agencies left without the staff and resources needed to meet the most basic needs of New Yorkers duh mage HPE, HRA, DHS.
5:17:47
They're not functioning effectively, causing delays in affordable housing and development.
5:17:52
Support of housing placements, and processing applications for rental assistance.
5:17:56
My experience with working with clients who need access to HASSA and HRA it's most fully understaffed, making it difficult or impossible for housing providers to meet the needs of our clients.
5:18:06
The next is that we call for the city to invest in human services workforce.
5:18:10
Housing and homeless service providers made up predominantly of women of color are grossly underpaid.
5:18:16
I myself oversee 16 staff who often experience the same types of issues as our clients, housing instability, food instability, and it's a shame that those who are put in place to help New Yorkers are also experiencing the same things because of low wages.
5:18:30
So we're calling for 5.4% on all human service contracts for a cola adjustment.
5:18:37
The 3rd point I wanted to talk about is the city facts program.
5:18:41
You know, they're we're very grateful for the improvements that have been made, but access is still an issue for a lot of people, particularly clients who I serve who are in transitional housing and don't qualify.
5:18:53
For the city fabs.
5:18:54
So we'd like an expansion of the city fabs eligibility.
5:18:58
And lastly, making critical investments and taking action to a facilitate affordable housing and support housing development.
5:19:05
The budget doesn't include sufficient enough funding to adequately expand the city's affordable supportive housing stock.
5:19:10
1 of the most critical issues for Yorkers.
5:19:14
Housing Works is calling for 2,500,000,000 in additional new construction and financing each year for the next 5 years for apartments.
5:19:21
Specifically built for homeless and Low Income Yorkers.
5:19:25
Thank you so much for your time, and I appreciate the the time to bring these points to your attention.
Pierina Ana Sanchez
5:19:31
Thank you.