AGENCY TESTIMONY
Comments on specific legislative proposals
0:17:43
·
120 sec
Commissioner Hendon provides comments on several legislative proposals related to veterans' issues and services.
- Intro 686 (Supporting veteran vendors): The city supports an additional seat for the veteran community on the Street Vendor Advisory Board
- Intro 687 (Waiving permit fees for veteran vendors): DVS is still gathering feedback and wants to engage further with the veteran street vendor community
- Intro 688 (Cure periods for VSO violations): DVS appreciates the intent but notes no such cure period exists for non-profit buildings currently
- Intro 959 (Rental assistance for homeless veterans): DVS agrees with the intent but notes similar assistance is already available through CityFHEPS
- The commissioner emphasizes the need to align new proposals with existing programs and workflows
James Hendon
0:17:43
Legislative proposals.
0:17:45
Regarding the City of New York's positions on legislation referenced earlier, we have the following comments.
0:17:50
Intro 686, supporting veteran vendors.
0:17:53
The city supports an additional seat specific to the veteran community on the Street Vendor Advisory Board.
0:17:59
Intro 687, waiving permit fees for mobile food unit commissaries that reserve space for veteran vendors.
0:18:05
At this time, we're still receiving feedback from the street vendor community on the impact of this legislation.
0:18:10
For that reason, we'd like to engage with the veteran street vendor community to further deliberate, on the legislative impact of this bill.
0:18:18
Intro 688, cure periods for certain violations by veteran service organizations.
0:18:22
We appreciate and understand the intent of this legislation and hope and it's hoped to provide much needed relief to our veteran service organizations in New York City.
0:18:30
At this time, no such cure period exists for non profit buildings, but we're working closely with the Department of Buildings to ensure that any such violations that occur are handled with care and attention to the conditions the VSOs are managing.
0:18:42
A deeper point, a root issue to DVS, is the fact that younger veterans are not joining veteran service organizations to the extent needed to ensure that these VSOs, which own, manage, and maintain their own properties, have the bandwidth needed to mitigate challenges when they surface.
0:18:57
We're actively working to address this problem.
0:19:00
Intro 9 59, providing rental assistance to homeless veterans.
0:19:03
While we agree with the intent of this bill, it is important to note that the housing subsidy proposed is already available to veterans experiencing housing insecurity in the form of the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement, otherwise known as CityFEPs.
0:19:16
We advise policymakers to align intro 5959 and any legislative proposal on veterans housing assistance with the current workflows and existing programs to best serve veterans experiencing housing insecurity.
0:19:28
The goal of this administration is to ensure that veterans who have fallen on hard times have the tools and support they need, such as city FEPPS, to secure and maintain permanent housing.
0:19:37
To that end, the city continues to work collaboratively to forge a future where no veteran community member experiences homelessness.
