Lily Shapiro
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Good afternoon, deputy speaker and members of the committee.
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My name is Lily Shapiro, Schapiro and I am policy counsel of the Fortune Society's David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy.
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Thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony and testify today about the need for greater investments in an access to supportive housing through the passage of Intro 1,100 increased funding for Justice Involved Supportive Housing Program.
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Fortune serves over 13,000 individuals annually, and every night we house over 800 people in our emergency transitional and permanent supportive housing.
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And we have seen firsthand how comprehensive community based interventions change lives, break cycles of incarceration and create safer communities.
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And we all know that supportive housing is a proven solution to homelessness, mental health challenges and justice system involvement.
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But thousands of New Yorkers who are on Rikers for lack of housing, leaving Rikers, and returning home from prison each year are blocked from accessing the city's largest supportive housing program NYC Fifteen Fifteen due to restrictive eligibility requirements.
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It unnecessarily follows the federal definition of chronic homelessness which disqualifies people who have been incarcerated for more than ninety days by resetting their homelessness status and we must do better because thirty three percent of people entering our jails are unhoused at the time of admission, Twenty one percent have a serious mental health diagnosis and remain on Rikers twice as long as the overall average length of stay, well over ninety days.
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Anyone serving a prison sentence upstate has been incarcerated for at least one year.
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And every year since 2015, '40 '1 to '50 '4 percent of people coming back to the city from prison have been discharged directly into our city shelters.
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Intro eleven hundred offers a clear solution by expanding eligibility for city funded supportive housing to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, had justice system involvement in the past twelve months and have a diagnosed SMI or SCD.
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And we know that expanding supportive housing eligibility to this group will have a tremendous impact on the people served and also enhance collective public safety and reduce the burden on our shelters.
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It's also crucial that the city fulfill its commitment to bring online three eighty more units of JISH housing with sufficient service rate funding.
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In FY twenty five for which we're grateful the council provided 6,400,000.0 in discretionary funds to increase service rates for the 120 operational units of which Fortune operates half,
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this doesn't solve the problem of bringing online the additional three eighty units to reach the promised number of 500 in the points of agreement.
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Therefore, we're requesting $4,800,000 annually be allocated to DOHMH's budget and a line item to reissue the 2019 RFP with higher service rate funding.
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For the city to fulfill its legal and moral obligation to close Rikers by 2027, It must invest in solutions like JISH that promote desistance and stability and we must pass intro 1,100 to open up more access to supportive housing to more New Yorkers.
5:39:45
Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify today for your leadership and commitment to making our city a place where all New Yorkers regardless of their past can build a stable future.
