PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Noam Weinberg on CityFHEPS Voucher Program Challenges
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ยท
164 sec
Noam Weinberg, a resident of a Brooklyn homeless shelter, testified about the challenges faced by individuals trying to use CityFHEPS vouchers to secure housing. He highlighted long waiting times, discrimination by landlords, and bureaucratic hurdles that prolong shelter stays.
- Mentioned a person who lost their voucher after waiting for months with a shopping letter
- Cited the New York state comptroller's report showing an average waiting time of 10 months for housing after receiving a shopping letter
- Emphasized the need to increase the value of vouchers and tackle landlord discrimination, particularly through text message communications
Noam Weinberg
1:05:02
Right.
1:05:04
Hi.
1:05:04
My name is Noam.
1:05:05
I live in a homeless shelter in Brooklyn right now, and I have met countless people who have been waiting such a long time to receive housing, to receive supportive housing, to receive their city FEPs voucher.
1:05:18
There are I know a guy with a shopping letter who has been waiting for that has been waiting for for for many months that lost his voucher, in fact.
1:05:29
You know, when when when you, after 4 months, if you don't find a place in time and source of income and discrimination is a big factor in this where landlords won't accept your vow your voucher, basically, because, where landlords basically won't accept your voucher because, because frankly, it doesn't it doesn't suit their interest a lot of the time.
1:05:58
There are you know, the New York state comptroller's report showed that, it it it showed that, I'm sorry.
1:06:08
Uh-huh.
1:06:11
Yeah.
1:06:11
It it it showed that, that that that that the average waiting time is about 10 months.
1:06:17
And, you know, in my shelter, the waiting time is about a year.
1:06:21
So, I mean, that sounds about right to me, after receiving your shopping letter.
1:06:25
That's not after just entering the shelter.
1:06:28
That's after receiving your shopping letter for a city theft voucher.
1:06:32
And I think, and I think it's worth noting that, I I don't think it's worth noting that when that that when we when we tell people that we want them to work, that we want them to obtain housing, but then we there's all these barriers and there's all these bureaucratic hurdles to doing so, it it it it it's basically telling people that it's more important to prolong your stay in the shelter rather than to obtain your basic needs.
1:07:03
Because even if you're making, like, 3,000, right, a little over the voucher worth in a month, you're still not getting you you you you you you're still not gonna be able to get that voucher, and, yeah, it's just gonna prolong your stay in the shelter.
1:07:16
So we need to we we need to upgrade the worth of those vouchers, and we also need to, directly tackle on discrimination by landlords.
1:07:27
An example of that is text messages.
1:07:29
You know, if you text a landlord and say, you know, I want I want to schedule a viewing, then you mentioned you have a voucher.
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Guess what's gonna happen?
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A lot of the time, they are going to ghost you.
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They are not going to respond.
1:07:42
And that's a serious problem, and that's a serious hurdle towards, obtaining housing.