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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Stephanie Mansfield, Single Mother and EHV Voucher Holder
4:20:25
·
5 min
Stephanie Mansfield, a single mother of three and EHV voucher holder, shared her personal experiences with homelessness, disability, and the challenges of accessing support services. She emphasized the importance of proper funding and coordination between different agencies to help people like her and her children thrive.
- Advocated for increased funding for FHEPS (Family Homelessness & Eviction Prevention Supplement) program
- Highlighted the need for better continuity of care and communication between different service agencies (DSS, HRA, local precincts)
- Stressed the importance of support services in breaking the cycle of poverty and homelessness for families
Stephanie Mansfield
4:20:25
Hi.
4:20:27
Good afternoon.
4:20:30
It's been a long day.
4:20:32
It's raining now.
4:20:34
We started it was a pretty sunny and gloomy day.
4:20:36
I appreciate your time.
4:20:38
My name is Stephanie Mansfield.
4:20:40
Stephanie M, I'm a single mom of three.
4:20:43
I just want to take two seconds to acknowledge all that we accomplished here today.
4:20:49
There was the Catholic kids that came in and saw us.
4:20:52
There was the union members that came and showed the unity.
4:20:56
There was many, many, many moments of frustration and just overall clarity and and just frustration on my end.
4:21:15
I'm a single mom from Brooklyn.
4:21:18
I have three children.
4:21:21
I am disabled.
4:21:23
I'm so off script what I wanted to say to you guys is irrelevant to what I heard today.
4:21:29
I am a EHV voucher holder.
4:21:35
That is there's something that the DSS commissioner said today.
4:21:41
She said homelessness and people on the street have been failed and what I wanted to respond back is to say that the lack of proper and adequate support is what failed those homeless people, unhoused people.
4:22:02
I'm I was housed and unsupported as a survivor.
4:22:09
I was unseen and unheard in my survivalness.
4:22:15
My children I have a son that is neurodivergent.
4:22:19
I have another son that has ADHD hyperactivity, undiagnosed for a very long time is because of the lack of support and being a mother that is also suffering and have a disability, unseen disability.
4:22:38
It is hard to reach my full potential in life without the proper support.
4:22:47
So as we are sitting here and we're trying to like count the pennies and see how we can distribute money to really impact homelessness, I am a mom of three trying to curate and trying to make sure that my kids can be that astronaut, can be that writer, can be that soccer player.
4:23:13
I have to make sure that this cycle ends with me, that being a voucher holder ends with me, that they can be the best that they can be.
4:23:25
I don't have that village.
4:23:27
I'm relying on these services, so I'm here to advocate for that.
4:23:31
I am symptomatic, am sick, I'm disabled and I'm advocating for that here today.
4:23:37
So hearing these things and sitting here and just being like okay I'm cool, this is great, this is why I'm here.
4:23:45
I should have been here last month, I should have been here and so many hearings before me but just having the pleasure of being able to be here.
4:23:55
I was in the hospital in March, I'm over my time I'm sorry.
4:23:59
I was in the hospital in March and I was hospitalized for a very long time and I still had to make sure that my kids were okay.
4:24:09
My ask from thank you.
4:24:12
My ask from you guys is to push for the FEPS to make sure that the funding in FEPS is met to make sure that HRA, that DSS, that those things that are meant for not only survivors but also for homeless, that we have access to that care.
4:24:47
There's like this lack of continuity so a lot of things that I was hearing today is like this discontinuation of care.
4:24:58
It's like DSS was saying that they have police officers.
4:25:03
This morning I'm in my safe space, I'm in my safe home and I see a homeless person and I see how they have mental health illness but there's a DSS officer that can address that mental health illness specifically for that person, right?
4:25:23
But does the local precinct know that?
Carolina Cortes-Rivera
4:25:29
Does
Stephanie Mansfield
4:25:31
HRA know that?
4:25:35
How do we hold these systems accountable?
4:25:38
How do we get them to communicate with one another and work in a way that the layman like myself who's just trying to survive can access these things and thrive.
4:25:57
So thank you.