ANHD Statement on Governor Hochul’s Proposed FY25 Executive Budget

ANHD appreciates Governor Hochul’s proposal to continue providing emergency funding to New York City to shelter and provide services for asylum-seekers, and we call on Mayor Adams to likewise set aside his attempts to use this emergency as an excuse to undermine the rights of unsheltered New Yorkers and instead focus on funding and implementing solutions to support migrants and all those experiencing homelessness in our City.

Unfortunately, the proposed FY25 Executive Budget’s failure to include additional solutions to stabilize low-income households during record homelessness, evictions, and rent increases is profoundly disappointing. 

It is a mistake to conflate building new housing, which takes years, with overall housing affordability. Right now, there are hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers whose housing can and must be stabilized. We have a slate of solutions at the ready which can keep our lowest-income New Yorkers in their homes, house New Yorkers living in shelter, and leverage existing housing stock to alleviate our crisis. 

The Housing Access Vouchers Program (HAVP) can house or keep housed up to 20,000 households and 50,000 New Yorkers, and is supported across the full spectrum of housing stakeholders, from grassroots organizations to REBNY. The range of political support for HAVP makes it a low-hanging fruit this session, but it is conspicuously absent from the proposed budget. 

Additionally, there is a looming threat to our long-standing stock of affordable housing maintained by nonprofit providers and community development corporations. Arrears that have remained unaddressed from years of pandemic hardship mean our nonprofit providers are facing the impossible choice of evicting tenants or failing to keep those homes affordable. Inequitable insurance rates are only making the situation more dire.  The State must make it a priority to confront these challenges for the providers of our most deeply affordable housing before it further escalates and worsens the crisis, adding to the cost of solving it. 

Policies such as a universal Right to Counsel and Good Cause Eviction would further have monumental impacts on keeping existing tenants in their homes, and must be put on the table. 

By leaving solutions to stabilize housing out of the budget, the State will guarantee that homelessness and displacement continue to soar. Alongside our members and partners, ANHD will continue to fight for BIPOC, low-income, and immigrant New Yorkers’ housing resources and protections.