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One of the most potentially consequential but underutilized affordable housing resource in NYC is the
tens of thousands of outstanding but unused rental subsidy vouchers. There are currently nearly 22,000 New York City households with City FHEPS (
Family Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement) vouchers who are struggling to secure their own apartments, another 5,000 as of yet unused Federal EHV (Emergency Housing Vouchers) awaiting the identification of landlords prepared to accept them. There are also thousands more State FHEPS vouchers as well.
One major component of the challenge to more fully utilize this potentially game changing resource is the substantial administrative inefficiencies that are currently in place in the city agencies responsible to administer these vouchers -- And the new administration, to its credit, has admitted as much and has been working with advocates (including the Interfaith Assembly) to address these. Another significant obstacle to the adequate utilization of these vouchers is what is referred to as "Source of Income Discrimination" - which results in the unwillingness of some landlords to accept rental subsidy vouchers for various reasons. But a central aspect of the voucher program which we feel has not received nearly the attention and resources that it deserves is the human side of the voucher program -- the experience of voucher holders themselves.
Given the current administrative obstacles and the resistance from many landlords, the time between the granting of a voucher and securing an apartment can take many months. Coupled with the other challenges faced by these homeless or at risk households, this process can be emotionally and logistically extremely difficult and stressful. Despite the exceptional efforts of many of our social service partners, there are simply not enough paid support staff to sufficiently support the vast number of voucher holders through their entire journey of navigating the frustrating and time consuming process of obtaining a voucher and ultimately securing an apartment for themselves and their household. With this in mind, the Interfaith Assembly, in partnership with other allies is exploring the formation of "The Fellowship of Accompaniment", to provide support for a small number of voucher holders as they navigate this challenging process - as a potential pilot to use to build a larger effort.
As an indication of the importance of providing this kind of support to voucher holders, we recently learned of an effort known as the
Baltimore Regional Housing Partnership which has established a supportive network for and between 4,300 voucher holder households and community based and mission driven housing providers to support these families and assist in the development of positive relations between tenants and landlords. As another indication of the growing awareness of the need to attend to the personal and emotional side of the voucher equation, we are pleased to report that as part of our "Interfaith Landlord Locator Project" through which we are seeking landlords to accept the Federal EVH (Emergency Housing Vouchers), one of our terrific partners, New Destiny Housing, has received a grant to provide support for the voucher holders who have experienced domestic violence. The launching of Fellowship of Accompaniment is also inspired by the powerful work of the community of
Saint'edigio which is one of the founding partners of the Fellowship. The Community of Saint'edigio currently provides support to dozens of our sisters and brothers who live on our streets, trains and shelters in New York City.
The Fellowship of Accompaniment effort is seeking to identify New Yorkers who are willing to help provide "accompaniment" support for individuals holding rental subsidy vouchers. Please write to me at
Marc@iahh.org if you would like to work with the Interfaith Assembly on this exciting project.
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Balancing community concerns with City-wide needs in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx If New York City is to effectively address the increasingly critical need for affordable housing for all of its people. the concerns of local community residents must be considered and respected even as all communities are asked to embrace the needs of the most vulnerable. The equitable re-zoning of neighborhoods has often been a contentious "zero-sum game" process where when one "side" wins, another "side" looses. We believe the current Mayoral administration as well as a number of other influential elected officials are committed to finding a path towards achieving a "higher common ground". But for this to happen a key and necessary element is trust. A proposal for the development of over 300 housing units (including over 90 "affordable") plus the upgrading of a supermarket and the development of 40,00 square feet of additional commercial space is currently the subject of concern to many local residence. As this
article describes, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson has weighed into this conversation in ways that seek to balance local concerns with the city-wide need for affordable housing. We salute her efforts in seeking higher common ground and look to other elected officials to work with Mayor Adams great team in this very challenging process throughout our great city.
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Stable Families Act Press Conference
As we announced earlier in the week congressman Richie Torres held a
press conference this past Tuesday to introduce the Stable Families Act - recognizing the state of emergency created by the lack of affordable housing across the nation and launching a permanent national rental assistance program to address it. The Interfaith Assembly looks forward to working with our advocacy partners to support this effort.
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