‘Foot in the Door’: Funds to Kickstart State Rental Voucher Program Expected in Budget Deal

While lawmakers are still hammering out the details the latest state budget is likely to include million to create the long-sought Housing Access Voucher Operation which would help people experiencing or at liability of homelessness afford rent Tenant organizers with the Housing Justice for All Coalition rallying at the Capitol building in The Housing Access Voucher Venture has been a priority for advocates for the last several years Chris Janaro City Limits A state budget deal is near and it s expected to include money to kickstart a long-sought rental voucher plan though with less funding than supporters hoped for More than three weeks after their budget deadline state lawmakers and Gov Kathy Hochul on Monday broadcasted they d reached an agreement on New York s next spending plan And while details are still being hammered out it s likely to include million to establish the Housing Access Voucher Project HAVP a rental subsidy for people experiencing or at menace of homelessness City State first informed Modeled off the federal Section housing voucher both tenant and landlord groups have embraced the HAVP proposal as a means to address rising homelessness amid a statewide housing shortage If we get this done it ll be a very big accomplishment for tenants and for anyone who cares about the stability of our housing stock for property owners who want to do the right thing and house people who might otherwise struggle to pay their rent for communities where they know that people are losing their homes declared State Sen Brian Kavanagh who co-sponsored a bill to create HAVP each legislative session for the last five years Gov Hochul had long resisted the proposal and previously cited concerns about costs something she reiterated in an exchange with reporters earlier this week This is something that we re looking to initiate for the first time here moderating the cost and keeping an eye on the initiative because this has probable to escalate a great deal Hochul reported But it s something I thought was crucial the leaders of the Legislature thought was crucial The million price tag currently on the table is far less than the million a year that the State Senate and Assembly called for in their own budget proposals It really should have been more But I m glad we have our foot in the door to establish a effort So that s exciting after years of advocacy Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal the bill s other sponsor communicated City Limits It does need to be funded at a much higher rate so we re going to keep fighting for that she added When all the federal cuts come down to Section and all sorts of other housing help you know we will need HAVP more than ever Kavanagh revealed million could get a pretty substantial venture going and provide roughly households with vouchers for a year How the numbers play out is something we re still working out he reported But again what has happened this week is this is the first time in the five years we ve been having this conversation that a governor has publicly noted that she supports spending money on this purpose and I think that is a big step forward The Legislature still has to print and vote on the final budget bills and things are in flux Lawmakers are negotiating how much capital money to allocate for housing construction and preservation maintenance at NYCHA and Mitchell-Lama developments and for programs to aid tenants and homeowners according to Kavanagh who chairs the Senate s Committee on Housing Construction and Area Enhancement Those conversations are still happening he disclosed Wednesday It is a laborious time with what s going on at the federal level within the economic activity he added but this budget stands to be very good budget from the perspective of housing if we get HAVP done if we get these capital programs properly funded To reach the editor contact Jeanmarie citylimits org Want to republish this story Find City Limits reprint approach here The post Foot in the Door Funds to Kickstart State Rental Voucher Scheme Expected in Budget Deal appeared first on City Limits