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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Shervon M. Small, Executive Director of Legal Services NYC
4:26:53
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169 sec
Shervon M. Small, Executive Director of Legal Services NYC, testified about the crucial role of legal services in reducing poverty, preventing homelessness, and supporting New York families. She highlighted the cost-saving benefits of their services and addressed challenges facing the nonprofit sector, including payment delays and potential federal funding cuts.
- Legal Services NYC serves over 100,000 New Yorkers annually, saving the city an estimated $300 million in averted shelter costs.
- Nonprofits are facing severe financial strain due to contracting and reimbursement delays from the city.
- Small emphasized that cutting legal services would ultimately cost the city more, as these programs prevent homelessness and reduce reliance on emergency services.
Shervon M. Small
4:26:53
Good afternoon.
4:26:55
Got it.
4:26:56
Thank you.
4:26:56
Good afternoon, Good afternoon, chairs Ayala and Brennan, members Brewer, member Brewer, and council staff.
4:27:04
My name is Siobhan Simone, and I serve as the executive director of Legal Services NYC.
4:27:08
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today about the crucial role legal services play in reducing poverty, preventing homelessness, and keeping New York families safe and stable.
4:27:18
At Legal Services NYC, the largest provider of civil legal services in the country, we serve more than 100,000 New Yorkers.
4:27:25
But we are not only a legal services provider, we are an anti homelessness prevention organization, an anti poverty organization.
4:27:31
Our work helps people stay in their homes, access health care and food, maintain financial security, fight back against discrimination and exploitation, and secure the necessities of life.
4:27:41
And we do all of this while saving the city hundreds of millions of dollars.
4:27:44
Last year alone, our eviction prevention program, and civil and benefits saved the city over 300,000,000 in averted shelter costs, representing a nearly 10 to one return on investment.
4:27:56
Meanwhile, the nonprofit sector that delivers these services is being pushed to the brink.
4:28:00
Contracting and reimbursement delays have led providers, including Lisney, waiting six to ten months or more for payments.
4:28:07
We've had to draw down credit lines just to meet payroll.
4:28:09
No nonprofit, no matter how mission oriented, can survive this way.
4:28:13
No nonprofit can survive with the city owing them tens of millions of dollars day in, day out, year in, year out.
4:28:21
And even if what and if one of us falters, even if one of us on this group falters, one of us in the city falters, it has a ripple effect that it impacts the entire system.
4:28:30
We're also staring down a federal financial cliff with core programs at risk.
4:28:35
If the city experiences federal funding cuts, it may be tempted to scale back or eliminate crucial programs like eviction eviction prevention, tenant harassment protection, immigrant legal services, and public benefits advocacy.
4:28:50
But let's be clear, cutting these services won't save money.
4:28:53
It will cost the city more.
4:28:55
Our programs are not just social supports, are cost saving interventions that prevent homelessness, reduce reliance on emergency services, and keep families stable and out of crisis.
4:29:06
More New Yorkers rely on us every single year, and we keep people out of shelters, out of hospitals, and other costly systems of last resort.
4:29:15
The data is clear, investing in civil legal services upfront avoids significantly greater cost down the road.
4:29:21
While when families are evicted, they end up in shelters.
4:29:24
When immigrants can't work legally, they rely more on public benefits.
4:29:27
Again, investing in civil civil service civil legal services is a great bet, and the city cannot go wrong with increasing the funding and paying us on time and relying on the services that we continue to provide day in and day out for the City Of New York.
4:29:41
Thank you.