New York, NY – Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal today announced that the Assembly one-house budget proposal increases funding for these critical programs by $3 million, after advocating for increased funding for programs that provide support to runaway and homeless youth (RHY) in the FY 2015-16 New York State budget.

“Despite a marked increase in the number of homeless young people in New York, funding for RHY programs has not kept pace, and has actually decreased by 60% since 2008,” said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan). “The inclusion of $3 million in the Assembly one-house is a clear recognition that this vulnerable population is in dire need of support and will enable providers to create hundreds of additional beds as well as services to ensure that young people are not sleeping on the street.”

Assemblymember Rosenthal spearheaded efforts to build support in the Assembly to increase funding for RHY programs, circulating a letter to her colleagues asking Speaker Carl Heastie to allocate more funding to help this vulnerable population.

As of 2012, the total number of runaway and homeless youth, nearly 40% of whom identify as LGBT, has reached almost 30,000 statewide; however, there are currently only 350 government-funded beds in New York City to serve the nearly 4,000 young sleeping on streets each night. Because of the dearth of funding and the lack of available beds, more and more young people turn to sex traffickers and pimps, desperate to find some semblance of “stability.” While state funding for trafficking victims has increased steadily over the last several years, funding for RHY programs has not kept pace, despite the clear connection. RHY program providers had requested a modest increase in funding this budget cycle.

The proposed 2015-16 Executive budget only included $2.36 million for RHY programs, the Assembly addition takes total funding for RHY programs to $5.36 million.