PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Steve Behar on CityFHEPS Voucher Program Challenges
2:02:37
ยท
4 min
Steve Behar, an attorney with extensive experience in government, testifies about his frustrating two-year effort to help a friend named Jane, who has been living in a shelter for nearly a decade, navigate the CityFHEPS voucher system. He highlights systemic failures, discrimination, and administrative incompetence that have prevented Jane from securing housing despite his expertise and connections.
- Behar encountered discrimination against his friend when apartment hunting, with landlords refusing her applications but later claiming the units were still available.
- He faced repeated cancellations and lack of communication from shelter staff and management when trying to get assistance for Jane.
- Jane's voucher expired due to a mailing error, and Behar has been unable to secure a new one despite having landlords willing to accept it.
- Behar emphasizes the stark contrast between the high daily cost of shelter stays and the comparatively low cost of the voucher program, highlighting the inefficiency of the current system.
Steve Behar
2:02:37
I've I've been here a lot, but I've never been at this point.
2:02:40
So good to see you, councilwoman.
2:02:44
My name's Steve Behar, and I'm here because, I have been trying to help a friend of mine who's been in a shelter for nearly a decade.
2:02:54
And I've been trying to help her for the last 2 years.
2:02:58
And, I have been an attorney for nearly 3 year 30 years.
2:03:03
I spent 2 years as counsel in the New York State Senate and 6 years as counsel right here in the New York City Council, and I can't help her.
2:03:11
The system is broken, and, frankly, the people are broken.
2:03:17
I'm not gonna use her real name, but her I will call her Jane.
2:03:21
Jane is in her fifties.
2:03:22
She's a black woman, and she walks with a cane.
2:03:25
She had a voucher, and I was driving her around to see apartments, and she was clearly discriminated against.
2:03:33
She would see an apartment, and she'd write an application.
2:03:37
And a few days later, they'd say somebody else got it.
2:03:40
And then I would call a week later, and they'd say, it's still available.
2:03:44
Would you like to come see it?
2:03:47
That was bad enough, but, she was, at that point, staying in the Bronx in a shelter from, black veterans for social justice.
2:03:59
I called them repeatedly.
2:04:01
She talked to them repeatedly about meeting with us to to try to help her situation.
2:04:08
They wouldn't talk to us.
2:04:11
I finally called the COO, and they put me in charge of, they put me in contact with her supervisor.
2:04:17
They made 12 appointments to see us and canceled each one of them, either the day before or the day of.
2:04:23
She was then transferred to, Samaritan Village, women's shelter in Douglas and Queens, which is near where I live.
2:04:34
At this point, I reached out from my contacts here in in the council to, the community housing improvement program, which is a group of of landlords that own rent stabilized buildings.
2:04:47
And they said we have plenty of landlords that are willing to take her voucher.
2:04:52
So I sent him them her voucher, and it was expired.
2:04:57
The, shelter in the Bronx never realized that her voucher had expired.
2:05:03
It's been 2 years.
2:05:04
We can't seem to get another one.
2:05:07
She was moved to Datap Village Samaritan Datap Village in Douglason, Queens.
2:05:15
I called the main office of Samaritan Village, and I got a call phone call from a woman named Michelle Demott Demott, d e m o t t, who was the head of external affairs there.
2:05:29
She spoke to me twice and then ghosted me.
2:05:33
I've left probably a dozen messages for her, and they've never been returned.
2:05:38
And all my messages were saying was, I'm trying to help my friend get out of the shelter, and I have landlords that will take her voucher.
2:05:50
No response.
2:05:52
I then talked to miss I I called miss MacFarlane, who's the general counsel at Samaritan Village Samaritan Detox Village.
2:06:01
I've left her over a dozen messages and no reply.
2:06:05
I did find out the reason why her voucher expired was that DHS had when it expired, had sent the renewal paperwork to the shelter, and they don't take they don't get mail on the shelters.
2:06:18
So, this woman's been in the shelter for years.
2:06:21
I've spent 2 years trying to get her out.
2:06:25
And right now, I have nowhere to go.
2:06:28
And I like I said before, I've been an attorney for 3 decades, including being counsel in this body for 6 years, and I haven't been able to help her.
2:06:36
I can only imagine what a single mom with a high school education struggling day by day to go through this process.
2:06:45
I will finally say that I've taken Jane to DHS down on 16th Street in Manhattan from Eastern Queens probably a half dozen times.
2:06:58
We've gotten no help down there.
2:07:00
What we did get was a phone number, a phone number that when you call, rings one time and shuts off.
2:07:07
So, I'm asking the council to, you know, please look into this.
2:07:13
I'm also asking for some personal help in trying to help my friend Jane get out of this shelter because the as you guys know, the the voucher is 23, $26100 a month.
2:07:28
The city's probably paying $400 a day to keep her in the shelter.
2:07:33
It's a mess.
2:07:35
Thank you for listening.