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Q&A
Council Member Brannan inquires about affordable housing services funding and implementation
2:36:34
·
5 min
Council Member Justin L. Brannan asks Commissioner Molly Wasow Park about the funding and implementation of affordable housing services in New York City. Commissioner Park explains the Affordable Housing Services program, which is essentially a project-based City FHEPS (Family Homelessness & Eviction Prevention Supplement) program, detailing how it works to provide permanent housing for those coming out of the DHS shelter system.
- The program involves contracts with non-profits to lease or acquire buildings, with funding covering rent, operations, and light-touch social services.
- Funding amounts are determined based on a model negotiated with OMB, considering unit sizes and building characteristics.
- Client placement involves collaboration between HRA and DHS, focusing on long-term shelter stayers who don't need intensive supportive housing services.
Justin L. Brannan
2:36:34
you, deputy speaker.
2:36:36
I wanted to ask a question about affordable housing services.
2:36:39
The executive plan includes city funding of $28,400,000 in FY '25 and 33,000,000 in FY '26 for affordable housing services.
2:36:49
What programs or services will this funding support?
Molly Wasow Park
2:36:53
I'm so glad you asked.
2:36:55
This is one of my favorite programs.
2:36:57
So affordable housing services program is essentially project based city FEPS program.
2:37:02
So the way it works is that rather than giving each tenant a voucher, the vouchers are put into a contract along with some maintenance and operation costs and light touch social services.
2:37:18
The contract can either be nine years or what we are increasingly doing is long term thirty year contracts.
2:37:25
And the not for profit can then go out and lease or with the long term contracts acquire buildings.
2:37:34
And then the housing in those, these are permanent housing projects.
2:37:38
The housing is set aside for those coming out of the DHS shelter system.
2:37:43
So effectively what we've been able to do is convert social service dollars into actual housing finance tool, which is great.
2:37:50
In a city with a 1.4% vacancy rate, we absolutely have to be turning over every rock that we can to find more affordable housing, more options for households coming out of the shelter system.
2:38:03
So the funds that were added to the budget are covering those contract costs, so it's a mix of rent operations and light touch social services.
2:38:14
We have done I think about 500 of these with another 400 or so in the pipeline.
2:38:24
In many cases these are buildings that were built really pushing the mark as market rate housing really pushing the market.
2:38:33
Not for profits had been able to buy them, leveraging the contract.
2:38:38
And something that I think is really exciting about it is that they are fully leased within a few weeks or to a month of closing on the financing as opposed to, I love my colleagues at HPD, but sometimes the lease up time on those buildings can be very long.
Justin L. Brannan
2:38:59
Could you tell us how those funding amounts were determined?
Molly Wasow Park
2:39:02
Sure.
2:39:03
So we have a model that we negotiated with OMB.
2:39:07
It is the city FEPS rent for given unit sizes.
2:39:11
And then there are tiers of operations and social service costs that depend on both the size of the building and the mix of the units.
2:39:21
So a building that has more one bedrooms is going to get a little less financing than funding for those operational costs than a building that has two and three bedroom units, things like that.
Justin L. Brannan
2:39:32
And then what's HRA's process for determining which clients with FEPS vouchers to place in the units?
Molly Wasow Park
2:39:40
So we work with it's a combination between HRA and DHS.
2:39:49
Looking primarily at those who are long term stayers but who do not need the level of services that a supportive housing building would provide.
2:39:58
There is ongoing services on-site but it does not rise to the level of social service.
2:40:02
So it's not going to be people with serious clinical needs.
2:40:07
And then so we're matching between sort of who meets the who is city feps eligible, long term stayer, right household size for the given unit, and where client preference and other needs line up.
2:40:21
So if a client says I absolutely positively want to be in Brooklyn and the building is in the Bronx, we will probably not refer them because it's not a great housing fit for them.
2:40:31
They're unlikely to stay.
2:40:33
So it's a little bit of a retail process, but as I say, we have been able to move very, very quickly on those, and they've been terrific.
2:40:42
I mean just to give one example, I was at a ribbon cutting for one of these this fall.
2:40:50
And there was a young man who spoke at the ribbon cutting.
2:40:53
He was I think some 21.
2:40:55
He'd been in the shelter system for a couple of years.
2:40:58
He didn't need supportive housing.
2:41:00
He probably wasn't gonna qualify for supportive housing.
2:41:02
He didn't need supportive housing.
2:41:04
But I think back to myself as a 21 year old, I wasn't capable of living completely on my own.
2:41:11
I called my mother for everything, but he didn't have the family resources to be able to do that.
2:41:16
So being in a permanent housing setting where he had somebody who could call and be like, hey, I actually don't know how to get my cable set up or I don't know how to maintain my benefits.
2:41:27
Can you help me with this?
2:41:28
Can you help me through a referral to an employment program?
2:41:31
That I think is going be the difference between success and failure for a young man like that.
Justin L. Brannan
2:41:38
Okay.