Res 0588-2023

Whereas, New York City ("NYC" or "the City") is experiencing a housing crisis in both supply and affordability, with the 2021 NYC Housing Vacancy Survey data finding citywide net rental vacancy rate of 4.54% in 2021, which translates to just 103,200 vacant units out of nearly 2.3 million rental units in the City; and Whereas, A March 2023 article from TheRealDeal, a real estate news publication, cited U.S. Census data to reveal that NYC's population rose 4.25% over the past decade, while the number of housing units increased at just 2% over the same time period, and NYC trade association Real Estate Board of New York ("REBNY") reported that while at least 560,000 new housing units are needed by 2030 to meet demand, the rate of new construction is lagging far behind; and Whereas, New York City experienced record high rent prices in 2022, with finance analysis group Moody's Analytics releasing a January 2023 report which, using the Department of Housing and Urban Development's "rent-burdened" definition of families who direct 30% or more of their income to housing, revealed New York City to be the most rent-burdened metro area in the United States, finding that median-income NYC households would need to pay 68.5% of their earnings to rent an average-priced apartment in the fourth quarter of 2022, far higher than the next highest rate of 41.6% for median-income households in the Miami metro area; and Whereas, The nonprofit organization Coalition for the Homeless reported that rates of homelessness in NYC reached record high levels in October 2022, citing that the average number of people sleeping in a shelter every night hit 66,000, with that number rising to 72,562 people in January 2023 who spent every night in a shelter; and Whereas, According to the NYC Human Resources Administration's ("HRA's") Department of Social Services, supportive housing is "affordable housing with supportive social services in place for individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness", and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development ("HPD") describes supportive housing as "permanent, affordable housing with on-site support services to serve the needs of the most vulnerable New Yorkers, including homeless individuals and people with disabilities"; and Whereas, The NY/NY I, II, and III Supportive Housing Agreements were supportive housing programs that spanned the years of 1990-1993, 1999-2004, and 2005-2016, respectively, and cumulatively resulted in the creation of around 14,000 supportive housing units for those meeting certain criteria, such as homeless persons with mental illness; and Whereas, The NY/NY Supportive Housing Agreements utilized a legally binding mutual agreement between New York City and New York State ("NYS" or "the State") that made the City and State partner entities in their commitment to build out supportive housing units, but despite meeting the goals for building out thousands of supportive housing units, the last iteration of the NY/NY Supportive Housing Agreements, NY/NY III, expired in 2016 with no ready replacement agreement between the City and State; and Whereas, The NY/NY Supportive Housing Agreements have been subject to numerous studies that found numerous benefits arising from the program, including a 2014 report from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene ("DOHMH"), HRA, and the NYS Office of Mental Health ("OMH") that found NY/NY III to have saved NYS taxpayers $10,100 per tenant per year, along with improving health, employment, and educational outcomes for tenants, while reports on NY/NY I and NY/NY II similarly found both significant cost savings and improved health outcomes for program participants, with a 2002 University of Pennsylvania study finding that homeless persons placed in the NY/NY program saw reductions in shelter use, hospitalizations, length of stay per hospitalization, and time incarcerated; and Whereas, In 2016, NYS established the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative to create 20,000 units statewide over 15 years, while, separately, NYC began the NYC 15/15 program, its own supportive housing development program with a goal 15,000 units over 15 years: and Whereas, Given the complexity of the ongoing homelessness and housing affordability crisis in NYC, advocates believe a collaborative approach in the spirit of the former NY/NY Supportive Housing Agreements would be a crucial step in ensuring timeliness and efficiency of the current development programs; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on New York State to collaborate closely with New York City to achieve their shared goal of developing 35,000 units of supportive housing. CCK/CD LS #11696 6/7/2023