Establishes a five-year window for any entity participating in the New York state supportive housing program (NYSSHP) in good standing with such program to participate in a request for proposal to increase their contract rates up to ESSHI levels.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2134
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 15, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HEVESI -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Social Services
AN ACT in relation to enacting the supportive housing modernization act
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "supportive housing modernization act".
3 § 2. Legislative intent. Supportive housing is an exponentially impor-
4 tant social service that has evolved over the past four decades. At the
5 heart of any supportive housing program, the core is the same: helping
6 people at risk of and experiencing homelessness and other related chal-
7 lenges through the provision of social services within housing, connect-
8 ing residents with essential community-based services such as mental
9 health counseling, substance use treatment, and job training.
10 In 1987, a program called New York State Supportive Housing Program
11 (NYSSHP) was created. It currently exists under the New York State
12 Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) and it is the quin-
13 tessential example of early supportive housing interventions that demon-
14 strated success as a cost-effective solution to homelessness and a model
15 for preserving existing affordable housing stock. As a result, New York
16 state developed a succession of new and better-funded supportive housing
17 programs to more comprehensively meet tenants' needs, paying for both
18 services and rental assistance/operating costs. However, NYSSHP has
19 continued all these years without any significant change or modification
20 to the underlying funding formula -- $2,964 per year for individuals,
21 $3,900 for families. Currently, NYSSHP partially funds services in more
22 than 20,000 supportive units and is the sole source of service funding
23 in approximately 9,000 of those units but the payment structure is
24 creating deficits from the service providers.
25 On the other hand, the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative
26 (ESSHI) was created in 2016. ESSHI is an interagency program solicita-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00207-01-5
A. 2134 2
1 tion administered by the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH)
2 that provides supportive service and operating funds to sustain newly
3 developed permanent supportive housing units. ESSHI funds both services
4 and operating costs at $25,000 per unit and expanded to ten explicit
5 population categories, including frail elderly, survivors of domestic
6 violence and veterans.
7 Conclusively, both NYSSHP and ESSHI serve the same populations through
8 the provision of the same supportive housing model. However, only ESSHI
9 allows the providers to recoup the necessary cost of providing both
10 excellent housing and a full complement of wrap-around social services.
11 In the last twenty years, one-third of NYSSHP providers have either had
12 to merge with another agency, close their doors, or stop providing
13 supportive housing services altogether. Without the option to modernize
14 contracts at ESSHI rates, supportive housing units will be lost.
15 Therefore, this legislation does the only rational thing: allowing all
16 NYSSHP providers the option to modernize their contract rates up to
17 ESSHI levels.
18 § 3. Notwithstanding any provision of law, rule or regulation to the
19 contrary, for five years following the effective date of this act any
20 entity participating in the New York state supportive housing program
21 (NYSSHP) in good standing with such program may elect to participate in
22 a request for proposal to increase their contract rates up to ESSHI
23 levels.
24 § 4. The office of temporary and disability assistance shall promul-
25 gate all rules and regulations necessary for the implementation of this
26 act.
27 § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
28 ing the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately,
29 the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation neces-
30 sary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are
31 authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
