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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Kenny Margarito Alvarez, Supportive Housing Advocate from Supportive Housing Network of New York
5:03:38
ยท
130 sec
Kenny Margarito Alvarez, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and supportive housing advocate, shares his personal experience with homelessness and how supportive housing saved his life. He urges New York City to maintain its commitment to building 15,000 supportive housing units in fifteen years.
- Alvarez was chronically homeless for 16 months in New York City and faced challenges including abusive relationships and chronic health conditions.
- He credits supportive housing, particularly A Better Place run by the Doe Fund, for his recovery and personal growth.
- After entering supportive housing, Alvarez was able to complete his master's degree and find spiritual encouragement.
Kenny Margarito Alvarez
5:03:38
Okay.
5:03:42
Thank you.
5:03:46
Good afternoon, chair Sanchez and members of the committee.
5:03:49
My name is Kenny Margarito Alvarez.
5:03:52
I'm a United States Marine Corps veteran, and I served during the global war on terrorism from 02/2003 to 02/2008.
5:04:00
I'm also a supportive housing advocate in partnership with the Supportive Housing Network of New York.
5:04:07
We've asked we're asking New York City to keep its commitment to building 15,000 units in fifteen years.
5:04:13
I entered supportive housing in 2013 after moving back to New York and finding myself in crisis after crisis, entering the HASA program and acquiring emergency housing assistance.
5:04:24
I was chronically homeless for sixteen months in New York City and longer in the months prior in other states, faced with steep odds and unimaginable challenges like abusive relationships, chronic health conditions, and a lifestyle involving heavy self medication.
5:04:42
Along the way, A Better Place run by the dough fund quite literally became available to me.
5:04:48
It was the first step in anything resembling recovery.
5:04:51
Yolanda Jones was a program director there.
5:04:54
At the financially strapped facility, she and the average changing team became the linchpin of my survival during my time in supportive housing.
5:05:03
Before that, my experience in the series of New York single New York City single room hockey occupancy hotels was a horrifying mix of squalor, merciless staff, and drug related murder.
5:05:16
Supportive housing saved my life and solely showed me that there was a life worth saving in the first place.
5:05:22
Thanks to the amazing social workers at ACQC at Jamaica YMCA, it was the last place I stayed before entering the supportive housing system.
5:05:30
Once in, I went back to school, completed my masters, and the level of spiritual encouragement and clarity I needed to get out of that abusive relationship towards salvation can't be overstated.
5:05:40
Supportive housing got me the redemption that many others seek.
5:05:44
Now, supportive housing needs people to be able Thank you.
5:05:47
Time to expire.