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Q&A
Budget allocations for CityFHEPS vouchers in the City for All housing plan
2:13:59
ยท
4 min
Council Member Ayala inquires about the allocation of funds for CityFHEPS vouchers as part of the City for All housing plan. DSS officials provide details on current and future funding.
- $325 million added to CityFHEPS in the preliminary budget for FY '25
- Funding for FY '26 still being negotiated with OMB
- $250 million allocated for affordable housing services program
- Funding determinations made annually based on various factors including fair market rent and rent guidelines board increases
Diana Ayala
2:13:59
Okay.
2:14:01
On the city for all, the city council secured 5,000,000,000 in commitments as part of the city for all housing plan in recognition of the importance in advancing holistic housing plan that could support working and middle class New Yorkers and invest in solutions that meet their housing needs.
2:14:16
Of the 5,215,000,000 in funding was committed to city for city fest vouchers across fiscal twenty five and twenty six, Was this funding added to HRA's budget in the preliminary plan and if so what was added in each fiscal year?
Molly Wasow Park
2:14:33
There was a significant add to city feps this fiscal year.
2:14:39
I can pull up the exact number unless one of my colleagues may have it faster than me.
2:14:47
But hold on let me
Richard Johns
2:14:51
Yeah.
2:14:52
I can go ahead and answer that.
2:14:54
So for Citi perhaps, we've added about $325,000,000 in the preliminary budget for FY '25.
Diana Ayala
2:15:05
Anything in '26?
Richard Johns
2:15:07
We're still negotiating that with OMB and they did not add that in the preliminary budget.
Diana Ayala
2:15:16
Okay.
2:15:18
Okay.
2:15:18
Additionally, 187,000,000 was committed for over ten years for city theft vouchers and social services to create permanent homes for those in the DHS shelter system.
2:15:28
This commitment included the rehabilitation and conversion of homeless housing to create permanent affordable homes along with an investment of a hundred and 22,000,000 over ten years for affordable housing service contracts.
2:15:41
Was funding added to HRA's budget in the preliminary plan for this?
2:15:44
And if so, how much was added each fiscal year?
Molly Wasow Park
2:15:48
We'll pull up the exact numbers, but yes, we have been funded for our affordable housing services program, which as I mentioned is essentially our project based city FEPS contract that allows us to help nonprofits acquire buildings.
2:16:02
We're really excited about this program.
2:16:04
We think it is a great way that we can leverage social service dollars to help contribute to the overall affordable housing solution.
2:16:12
I believe the total amount of funding was about $250,000,000, but we'll pull out the exact numbers.
2:16:23
If you want to keep going, we'll pull the exact numbers.
Diana Ayala
2:16:26
So it is crucial that the funding allocated as part of the city for all commitment is targeted to those with the highest risk.
2:16:33
How is DSS ensuring that the most vulnerable people are reached with this funding?
Molly Wasow Park
2:16:39
So thank you councilmember.
2:16:40
As I mentioned earlier, we are absolutely committed to making sure that CityFeps remains an effective way to get people out of shelter and that we're serving those most at risk coming into shelter.
2:16:53
So we've been really focused particularly on the DHS exit side in making sure that we're getting vouchers into the hands of everybody who qualifies, that we are working with our providers to make sure that they have the training and the tools that they need to continue to help people exit and that we're doing what we can to process.
2:17:15
And I think the numbers that I talked about in my testimony really speak to that, that we've been able to just incredibly break records on the number of people who are exiting shelter with city feps.
2:17:26
I do think that the people who are already in shelter are really the most vulnerable, although as I mentioned about a third of the vouchers go to those who are in community who are really at risk most at risk of entering shelter.
Diana Ayala
2:17:43
The preliminary plan includes 325,100,000, sorry, in city funding added in fiscal year twenty five only for rental assistance programs.
2:17:55
How was this funding amount determined and can you provide a breakdown of how much is added by rental assistance program including city febs?
Molly Wasow Park
2:18:02
So we coordinate really closely with OMB.
2:18:05
I believe all of that $325,000,000 is specifically for city fabs.
2:18:11
But we coordinate closely with OMB on a year by year basis to determine what the dollar amount that we need for city fabs actually is.
2:18:19
It is a function not only of how many people are receiving rental assistance but what fair market rent has been set at for that year, what's happening with rent guidelines, board increases, a whole set of factors.
2:18:33
That's why we do the adjustment on a year by year basis.