Relates to eliminating rent for homeless shelters in cities having a population of less than one million, towns and villages; provides that a homeless individual or family applying for or receiving temporary housing assistance shall not be required to pay room and board or contribute any earned or unearned income, available benefits or resources to eliminate their need for temporary housing assistance or as a condition to receive temporary housing assistance from such provider.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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10322--A
IN ASSEMBLY
April 22, 2020
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HEVESI -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Social Services -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to eliminating rent
for homeless shelters in cities having a population of less than one
million, towns and villages
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 131 of the social services law is amended by adding
2 two new subdivisions 21 and 22 to read as follows:
3 21. The office of temporary and disability assistance shall prohibit
4 any publicly funded provider of temporary housing assistance in cities
5 having a population less than one million, towns and villages, including
6 but not limited to those defined in subdivision sixteen of section one
7 hundred thirty-one-a of this title from requiring recipients of public
8 assistance, emergency assistance for adults, supplemental security
9 income or additional state payment to participate in work activities,
10 including but not limited to those defined in section three hundred
11 thirty-six of this chapter, as a condition to receive temporary housing
12 assistance from such provider. Provided, however, if such recipient
13 chooses to volunteer or receive money to work, he or she shall be fully
14 informed in writing that there is no obligation to perform work or
15 volunteer as a condition of receiving temporary housing assistance from
16 such provider. Written, signed consent to volunteer or receive money to
17 work shall be kept on file while he or she is receiving temporary hous-
18 ing assistance from such provider. Nothing herein shall prevent the
19 provider of temporary housing assistance from keeping such consent elec-
20 tronically.
21 22. a. Any temporary housing assistance provider, in cities having a
22 population less than one million, towns and villages, found to be
23 collecting income, room and board or any other type of contribution in
24 violation of subdivision sixteen of section one hundred thirty-one-a of
25 this title, shall, after notice and an opportunity to be heard by the
26 department, be required to return any funds collected in violation of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD16127-02-0
A. 10322--A 2
1 this section to such recipient and may be subject to a civil penalty not
2 to exceed five hundred dollars for each violation. The department shall
3 adopt procedures in accordance with the state administrative procedure
4 act for assessment of penalties pursuant to this section. Such procedure
5 shall include the opportunity for an administrative appeal. Any provider
6 found to have violated this section and who is subsequently found to
7 have violated this section five or more times within one year of the
8 initial finding may be determined, at the discretion of the department
9 and taking into consideration the geographic availability of similar
10 services, to be ineligible to receive public funding for a period not to
11 exceed five years.
12 b. Any provider which has been deemed ineligible to receive public
13 funding pursuant to this section may apply to the department for an
14 order discontinuing such disqualification. The application shall set
15 forth the grounds, including that the provider has taken sufficient
16 actions to remove from responsibility officers and employees who engaged
17 in the actions that formed the basis of the violation, that the provider
18 has taken appropriate and sufficient actions to ensure that the actions
19 that formed the basis of the violation are unlikely to recur, and that
20 it will not be in the public interest to continue the disqualification.
21 § 2. Section 131-a of the social services law is amended by adding a
22 new subdivision 16 to read as follows:
23 16. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule or regulation to
24 the contrary, a homeless individual or family applying for or receiving
25 temporary housing assistance, in cities having a population less than
26 one million, towns and villages, shall not be required to pay room and
27 board or contribute or deposit any earned or unearned income, available
28 benefits or resources to eliminate their need for temporary housing
29 assistance or as a condition to receive temporary housing assistance
30 from such provider. For the purposes of this subdivision, any provider
31 of temporary housing assistance or short-term housing shall include, but
32 not be limited to, a family shelter, a cluster site apartment, a shelter
33 for adults, a United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
34 assisted transitional housing shelter, a public home, a hotel, an emer-
35 gency apartment, a domestic violence shelter, a runaway and homeless
36 youth shelter, a room and board shelter, a safe haven shelter, a veter-
37 ans short-term housing shelter, a criminal justice short-term housing
38 shelter, or a safe house for refugees, asylees, or trafficking victims
39 operating in New York state.
40 § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
41 have become a law.
