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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Laura Lazarus, Cofounder and CEO of Anthos Home
4:40:19
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168 sec
Laura Lazarus, CEO of Anthos Home, testifies about their innovative nonprofit model to help people with housing vouchers secure stable housing quickly. She highlights the effectiveness of their approach and suggests ways to improve the city's efforts in addressing homelessness.
- Anthos Home has moved over 310 families in less than two years and has 60 more in the pipeline.
- Lazarus proposes that nonprofits like Anthos could help expedite the process of filling homeless set-aside units, which often remain vacant for months.
- She emphasizes the need to reduce barriers for voucher holders and improve the efficiency of housing placement programs.
Laura Lazarus
4:40:19
afternoon council members.
4:40:20
Thank you for this opportunity.
4:40:22
My name is Laura Lazarus, and I'm a cofounder and CEO of Anthos Home.
4:40:27
Thank you for the opportunity to testify and share insights on how we can improve housing access and outcomes for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness.
4:40:34
I have submitted more formal written testimony, but I wanted to take a few minutes to highlight how our model is working and how we can help strengthen the city's efforts to address homelessness.
4:40:46
Anthos Home is an innovative nonprofit committed to helping people with housing vouchers secure stable housing as quickly as possible.
4:40:53
Vouchers are one of the most effective tools we have to address homelessness, yet families often spend a year or more searching for an apartment.
4:41:01
These long wait times extend shelter stays and create unnecessary instability for families who are ready to move forward.
4:41:08
Our model is designed to remove those roadblocks.
4:41:11
We work directly with landlords and brokers to secure apartments, ensuring that families with vouchers have immediate housing options and cover key costs that often affect move ins, such as repairs for inspections, moving expenses, and application fees.
4:41:25
And because finding an apartment is just the first step, we provide ongoing support for tenants and landlords for at least one year after placement.
4:41:33
We think of our work as a supplement to the city's efforts.
4:41:36
New York has made tremendous efforts and progress in expanding the city feds program, and last year helped more than 16,000 households move from shelter into permanent housing, which is a substantial increase over the last year.
4:41:48
Nevertheless, there are still opportunities to reduce the barriers voucher holders face.
4:41:53
One such opportunity includes the homeless set aside units across New York City.
4:41:58
These units, like housing vouchers, are a fantastic resource, but too often they sit empty for months before being filled.
4:42:05
These delays not only impact families in need of a home, but they also have financial consequences for affordable housing development financing.
4:42:13
Indeed, the delays in filling units often lead to a reduction in the amount of equity being provided by private funders.
4:42:21
This reduction in funding means that public dollars often fill that gap.
4:42:25
Currently, HPD and DSS coordinate the referrals for these units, But if a qualified nonprofit like Anthos did the work, we are confident we could make those moves happen much faster.
4:42:36
Over the past two years of operations, Anthos Home has seen the impact of our targeted support for tenants, property providers, and government agencies.
4:42:43
We have moved more than 310 families in in less than two years and have another 60 in the pipeline right now, which who we expect to move in this summer.
4:42:53
So we urge the city council to evaluate the current homeless set aside process set forth by HPD and think about drawing on the capacity of nonprofits like ours to help facilitate that work.
4:43:06
Thank you very much.