THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK OFFICES OF COUNCIL MEMBERS WILLIAMS AND TORRES CONTACT: William Gerlich [email protected] Sindri McDonald [email protected] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9:00 A.M. EST, July 18, 2014 COUNCIL MEMBERS WILLIAMS AND TORRES ANNOUNCE AGREEMENT WITH HPD TO REFORM FORCED TENANT RELOCATIONS NEW YORK, NY: Council Members Jumaane D. Williams (D-Brooklyn), Chair of the Housing and Buildings Committee, and Ritchie Torres (D-Brooklyn), Chair of the Committee on Public Housing, have joined together with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to better inform HPDs more than 30,000 Section 8 voucher holders on measures to ease the impact of federal budget cuts and important policy changes designed to avoid termination of vouchers for thousands of New Yorkers. The first public forum was held in Brooklyn Wednesday, July 16th and hosted by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. Additional public meetings will be scheduled in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens. Council Members Williams and Torres announced that with the support of other council members, they have secured $250,000 to help voucher holders affected by policy change with moving expenses. This funding was included in the FY15 City Budget that passed the Council late last month. As chair of the councils Committee on Housing and Buildings, my highest priority is to ensure that as an elected official, we do all we can to end the crisis of affordability in housing. Both the councils Housing and Buildings Committee and Public Housing Committee held a hearing on HPDs downsizing policies because of the myriad number of complaints we received from tenants, most of them senior citizens on fixed incomes, were unjustly being forced to move from their homes, said Council Member Williams. The bottom line is that we need the federal government to increase funding to our citys housing agencies, who have the responsibility for finding truly income-targeted housing for millions of New Yorkers in the most populous, highest density city in the nation. I fought hard to secure $250,000 in the Citys budget to subsidize moving expenses for voucher holders, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that agencies such as HPD are not put in a position to engage in downsizing due to agency finances. In the coming days, Ill be contacting Congressional representatives and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to push for the funding that our city needs. I am pleased that we have been able to come to an agreement with HPD on critical reforms that will ease the burden on those most hurt by downsizing. Providing New Yorkers with quality affordable housing means ensuring families dont live in fear of federal budget cuts forcing them out of their homes and into smaller units, said Council Member Torres. These reforms are an essential step toward giving tenants adequate time and better information to make a decision about moving. I am also incredibly proud to have worked with my colleagues in the Council to secure $250,000 in the Citys budget to subsidize moving expenses for voucher holders. Its deeply unfair that residents already facing financial constraints be forced to shoulder the considerable costs of relocating to a new apartment. Here in New York City, so many people depend on Section 8 rental assistance, said HPD Commissioner Vicki Been, it is a true lifeline and important factor in preventing homelessness for those among us who struggle to pay the rent. Section 8 is funded entirely by the federal government and when they made budget cuts last year, that hit us very hard. We were forced to make difficult policy changes affect a number of our clients, but which have resulted in savings that have enabled HPD to keep vouchers active for 3,000 households. Those families that are affected by the recent policy changes deserve a full explanation of what has happened and we are grateful for this opportunity to meet and talk to people face-to-face. I thank Chairman Williams, Torres and other members of the Council who have worked collaboratively with us to address the way the federal budget cuts have affected new Yorkers. We appreciate the leadership of Borough President Adams and members of the Brooklyn delegation in organizing and hosting this important forum. In 2013, the federal government slashed tens of millions of dollars from the federally funded Section 8 program. The cuts, which immediately took effect, forced HPD to take steps to achieve cost savings and close the budget gap created by the federal cuts, preventing the loss of 3,000 rental assistance vouchers. Among these steps was reducing the maximum subsidy a voucher would provide and reducing the number of bedrooms the voucher would cover based on household composition. The latter policy, known as right-sizing, has been a matter of concern to many voucher holders and elected officials. Following a April 9 City Council hearing HPD and Council Members Williams and Torres began a dialogue about steps that could be taken to address the concerns of voucher holders, elected officials and other stakeholders regarding the Section 8 policy changes HPD was forced to take following the cuts. Out of the dialogue came the following outcomes that HPD and the Council Members are announcing today: HPD has agreed to: · Extend the amount of time that regular voucher holders have to decide whether to pay additional rent or move to a right-sized apartment from 30 days, to one year from the date of the voucher holders annual recertification. · Participate in several town hall listening and education meetings. The first of these meetings will be tonight at 6pm at Brooklyn Borough Hall and is being sponsored by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. HPD is working to identify dates for future such meetings in other boroughs. · Revise notices that are being sent to voucher holders impacted by the policy change to clarify policies including how to request reasonable accommodations.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 18:59:23 +0000
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