New York Housing Conference drafted a sign-on letter calling on Mayor Eric Adams to exempt housing-related agencies from the proposed budget cuts and hiring freeze. We are concerned that the proposed budget cuts would reverse recent gains and meaningful production by HPD and impact housing placement and development citywide.
Mayor Adams instructed agency heads to cut their budgets by 15% in total during the upcoming budget season, including 5% for the upcoming November financial plan, another 5% for the preliminary budget in January, and a final 5% for the executive budget in April and that there will also be a hiring freeze at city agencies.
While we understand New York City’s need for additional resources to aid people seeking asylum, it is counterproductive to cut housing funding during an ongoing housing crisis that is exacerbated by people seeking asylum whose highest need is housing.
Below is the letter, signed by 60 organizations, calling on the mayor to exempt housing-related agencies – including HPD, DHS, HRA, DOB and DCP – from the proposed budget cuts and hiring freeze during an ongoing and worsening housing crisis.
New York Housing Conference sent the letter to Mayor Adams on Wednesday, October 25, 2023. You see the text of the letter below or see the hardcopy here.
Mayor Eric Adams
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
Dear Mayor Adams,
We are writing to express our concern over proposed budget cuts that would reverse recent gains and meaningful production by HPD and impact housing placement and development citywide. We are calling on you to exempt housing-related agencies – including HPD, DHS, HRA, DOB and DCP – from the proposed budget cuts and hiring freeze during an ongoing and worsening housing crisis.
We learned from press reports that you have instructed agency heads to cut their budgets by 15% in total during the upcoming budget season, including 5% for the upcoming November financial plan, another 5% for the preliminary budget in January, and a final 5% for the executive budget in April and that there will also be a hiring freeze at city agencies.
While we understand New York City’s need for additional resources to aid people seeking asylum, it is counterproductive to cut housing funding during an ongoing housing crisis that is exacerbated by people seeking asylum whose highest need is housing.
It would be a shame to reverse progress made at HPD, which has recently recovered staffing to pre-pandemic levels and produced the second most new affordable housing units since 2014. Meanwhile, DHS and HRA are still hundreds of staff below their pre-pandemic levels. A new hiring freeze would cause HPD to backtrack while DHS and HRA have not caught up and understaffing will get even worse.
In FY 2022, when HPD understaffing was at its worst, HPD financed 40 percent fewer units of affordable housing compared to the prior average.
In addition, HRA’s current backlog processing benefits, including one-shot assistance – a vital tool to keep New Yorkers with rental arrears in their housing – is not projected to clear until March of 2024 at the earliest. We are especially concerned that the budget cuts and hiring freeze will put affordable housing tenants that are in arrears at risk of losing their housing without timely one-shot assistance.
The situation is dire and cutting resources will make things worse. In the face of a growing housing emergency, we urge you to protect housing resources and exempt housing-related agencies from budget cuts and the hiring freeze.
Sincerely,
Acacia Network
Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD)
Benchmark Title Agency
Breaking Ground
Broadway Community
Brooklyn Community Services
CAMBA
Catholic Charities POP Development
Center for New York City Neighborhoods, Inc.
Citizen’s Committee for Children of New York
Citizens Housing and Planning Council
City Relief
Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH)
CUCS
Curtis + Ginsberg Architects LLP
The Doe Fund, Inc.
Douglaston Development
Enterprise Community Partners
Fair Housing Justice Center
Fairstead
Fifth Avenue Committee
FPWA
FX Collaborative Architects LLP
Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester County
The Health & Housing Consortium
HELP USA
Homeless Services United
Housing Rights Initiative
Institute for Community Living
IMPACCT Brooklyn
Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing
K2New Business Development & Marketing Strategies
Lantern Organization
LISC NY
Low Income Investment Fund
MBD Community Housing Corp
Milestone Development
Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter, Inc.
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
New Destiny Housing
New York Housing Conference
NYSAFAH
The Partnership To End Homelessness
Phipps Houses
Project Hospitality
Project Renewal, Inc.
Property Resources Corporation
Providence House
REBNY
RiseBoro Community Partnership
Rockabill Development, LLC
Sanctuary for Families
Safe Horizon
Services for the UnderServed, Inc.
Shams DaBaron aka “Da Homeless Hero”
Supportive Housing Network of NY
UNHP
Violence Intervention Program
VIP Community Services
Volunteers of America – Greater New York