This keeps families in poverty pushed to the outskirts of the city so we can be out of sight and out of mind. FHEPS is a rent subsidy program for households with children in receipt of, or eligible for, Cash Assistance, that are in shelter or at risk of entering shelter due to a housing court case or domestic violence. City of New York - 2023 All Rights Reserved. Menu > Zoom > +, In the View menu, select Zoom. Cityfeps desperately needs to be transferable as well. For our full list of recommendations and detailed comments, please see the attached letter. Intro 146 could be a powerful tool to help people that are homeless get their own home but for this tool to work it needs to be sharpened.Ive been in the shelter system over 5 years and being a native of the Bronx,Puerto Rico Ive spent some of my time while sheltered in Brooklyn as a tourist.On multiple occasions while walking around town seeing the sights Ive run into people Ive met throughout my many years in Brooklyn shelters that had to return to shelter after leaving their new home because they lost their rental assistance due to the income cliff.We need to do better for people.Lets make intro 146 work better by having fairer income guidelines.Rent should not be more than 30 percent of a persons income.Especially if they are people surviving on a low income.Why do we pay $4,000-$8,000 plus to warehouse people in the shelter system for years on end when we can spend on the average half that on rental assistance to house people that are homeless in their own home.People that are homeless need homes.Houses not Warehouses.Lets do better and end the income cliff and time limits on the CityFHEPS rental assistance voucher. Voucher discrimination must end if we want to see these proposed changes actually make a difference! Its unrealistic to think 1200 voucher for 4 people is enough for decent size apartments in nyc.I applied to hundreds of housing lotteries and never get a call back . I have a voucher and Im trying to find a 2 bedroom apartment but landlords and brokers do not offer apartments for $1,580, especially not a two bedroom. In 2022, NYC Department of Social Services' (DSS) made major changes to rental subsidy programs, CityFHEPS and FHEPS. Im currently at 25 Junius St. this shelter is no help at all. This is not an accident. That amount is based on HPD's Subsidy and Payment Standards, which are updated annually. Someone working 35 hours a week at the minimum wage of $15/hour has a gross income of $27,300, which is $1,540 over the income eligibility for a 1-person household. Single issuance cases are a fragile delivery mechanism to award CityFHEPS as these cases are prone to automatically closing without notice, causing the CityFHEPS application to be denied. I have perfect rental history. Period. Additionally, to ensure families and landlords have the support they need, the customer service line should be expanded to assist both landlords and families with the voucher. Improve Access to Vouchers for Homeless Youth. I have a therapist and someone to talk to to help me stay calm but the staff keep putting more drunks and drug abusers in my room and they know my mom died from drugs. Likewise, for families who devote their time to care for children with disabilities, CityFHEPS will now be an option to move out of shelter and into safe and permanent housing by using the SSI they receive to qualify for the voucher. Please note that CityFHEPS is not a program offered by New Destiny. At one point I thought I could work from home but the child upstairs dropping toys day & night & her brother running up/down the stairs & walking hard, its impossible. The policy should be changed to match the section 8 rules of a gradual phase-out whereby the voucher holder pays 30% of income until that amount exceeds the voucher amount. For example, Payment Standards for 2023 go up to $2,387 for a one-bedroom . Please implement the increases swiftly, properly, and so that it is the most efficient it could be. Please increase the vouchers. For a family of three living in a two-bedroom apartment, this means that once their income reaches $55,000 /yr, which is categorized as low-income in New York City, they lose their CityFHEPS eligibility and must pay the entire $2,217 in rent each month unassisted. I cant even get a 2 bedroom with 1580 voucher and my rent is 1,700 for a one bedroom we are suffering help us. Hello, I am currently a voucher holder. 146-C. We are heartened to see that the rule also raises max rent levels for apartments to NYCHA Section 8 standards rather than the broader federal Section 8 regulatory range included in the legislation, clarification that SCRIE and DRIE households can also access CityFHEPS if otherwise eligible, and the simplification of the street homeless definition, as all these changes will help more households to access or maintain their permanent housing. I am hearing so many different things about the change to the voucher amounts. NYC is a trademark and service mark of the City of New York. The system is supposed to help us and honestly in Nyc its like the system is against us. Make the amount of voucher according to the amount of income after taxes plus debt. I am writing to submit comment on behalf of Open New York, a grassroots pro-housing advocacy group. With NYCs recently implemented $15 minimum wage its even easier to be over-income. Moreover, the City has a reputation for paying its share of the supported rent very late, if at all. Should the program recipient get a slightly higher paying job, the 250% of FPL income cliff would potentially cause the rent paid by the individual to increase by a factor of 3, which is untenable for people working to climb out of poverty. by, Community Service Society of NY: Benefits Plus Learning Center / 633 Third Avenue / New York, NY 10017, NYCHAs Section 8 Voucher payment standards levels, Connecting Low-Income Families to the FHEPS Program. with that amount is an understatement. CityFHEPS has the potential to be the citys most powerful tool for abating the homelessness crisis, but the program will fall short unless the Administration also addresses a fundamental flaw in the amended rules: the income cliff. Through the entire COVID we had no mental health help, no one came to check on us to see if we were ok mentally and or physically. How can I build my credit ? Ridiculous!!! 10-08 (a) (1) Renewal eligibility income criteria should mirror Section 8 instead of 250% FPL. I strongly support HRAs decision to immediately implement support for the higher maximum rents under this Rule. However, incentives or requirements for landlord participation are lacking. Fair Market Rents (FMRs) are used to determine payment standard amounts for the Housing Choice Voucher program, to determine initial renewal rents for some expiring project-based Section 8 contracts, to determine initial rents for housing assistance payment (HAP) contracts in the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program (Mod Rehab), rent ceilings for rental units in both the HOME . Then, the voucher payment from the government covers the rest. This is not a mistake. I do know before when there was safety transfers involved there was help with finding apartments now as I was told I would have to find it on my own which I have had no luck what so ever. Visit Read more, New Destinys website has a section on finding affordable housing. I have the voucher currently having problems to transfer to another apartment NO LANDLORD WANTS THIS VOUCHER. We commend HRA for its plan to raise the CityFHEPS maximum allowable rents months ahead of its statutory deadline. But AccessHRA does not offer these functions to CityFHEPS recipients. The Department of Social Services 2020 Annual Report on Exits from NYC Domestic Violence Shelters shows that 53% of the 2,341 families with children that exited the HRA DV emergency shelter were transferred to other shelters. However, if at renewal, or at the time of a recalculation of the CityFHEPS rental assistance amount pursuant to 68 RCNY . By only funding a recurring program in the current year, the City's budget understates its spending commitments, budget gaps, and structural imbalance. It is bad enough what my daughter and I went through in respect to the domestic abuse we received on a daily basis, but now we are getting schemed into believing that our local government has our best interest to help us, only to pull the rug from under our feet yet again. This clause will force CityFHEPS recipients to make the impossible choice between earning higher incomes, as they work towards economic stability, and remaining in their homes. HRA should support its case managers and third-party providers by promoting an understanding of the new Rule and voucher levels, and ensuring that procedures to apply and process applicants are accessible and streamlined. By repealing the 90-day rule, the city can move these families into a home of their own and increase shelter capacity for newly arrived individuals. Your income doesnt meet the requirements Its getting to the point that Im thinking of moving out of NYC all together. Catherine Trapani, Homeless Services United. They want the apartment back because I had no choice but to call 311 on them a few times. My husband is considered permanently disabled because of an injury he suffered at work and it has been an on going struggle with cityfheps. I was struck last week by the death of a homeless woman from Kansas who was stabbed to death by her roommate. (2)Where the household is moving to a new residence, HRA will pay the first month's rent in full plus the CityFHEPS rental assistance payments for the next three months. While Intro. My daughter who is 12 shares a room with her brothers and I sleep in the living room . Presently, families still face bureaucratic barriers in utilizing their CityFHEPS vouchers, but the Administration has the power to eliminate these remaining issues and make CityFHEPS the Citys solution to homelessness. I believe cityfeps vouchers should go up as high as section 8 because if these low income homes are being built why cant people get in without section 8 & also why are landlords saying t hey dont accept ? I applaud the clarification of street homelessness to include unsheltered residents in voucher access and urge the Administration to also remove the 90-day shelter stay requirement. Due to the fact that if you have and apartment and you make a little more money. Once an individual or family enters shelter, they should be evaluated for CityFHEPS and promptly given a shopping letter so they can be rapidly rehoused back into the community. Proposed Rule Full Text Of utmost concern is the renewal eligibility criteria for household income to be no more than 250% FPL. At $32,200 for singles and $54,900 for families of three, 250% FPL is an extremely low income ceiling for a high-cost city, such as New York. But some of these landlords doesnt take it. While it feels amazing to be away from the abuse and it was definitely the right move to make, I sometimes question it because, even while we were experiencing the abuse, we had an apartment we could call home. Unfortunately, to date our joint efforts have been rebuffed by the NYC Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA). Why is this the rule? De Blasio Agrees to Fast-Track Rental Voucher Increase for Homeless New Its a townhouse development that has the insulation of a cereal box!!!! In the papers that covered it, her family noted she was a model who had some success, but had not yet broken through to support herself. The amendments to the Citys Administrative Code take effect in December 2021. The tenant-based program provides rental assistance for eligible households to use in any unit of their choosing that meets program requirements. For many voucher holders, access to quality housing is already difficult and families know what situation is appropriate for them. I send it in all paperwork needed. What is the policy if your hotel room is filled with a molded carpet because the hotel refuses to handle the problem the correct way. I have cityfheps and Im currently in a apartment but I want a transfer from brooklyn to the bronx but Its hard to find an apartment with a voucher of 1580 theres no apartment with that amount. Workers literally turn down raises in order to maintain their housing voucher. I am writing as someone who has been both a public assistance caseworker for HRA (1968-70) and a licensed associate residential real estate broker, the latter position which I still hold. We anticipate that these changes will lead to a more inclusive housing process and help elevate families out of poverty and into permanent housing. This creates a constant cycle of clients who qualify for CityFHEPS and are following all appropriate steps to receive a voucher getting bounced between reapplying for a single issuance case and CityFHEPS, as the single issuance closes before their CityFHEPS application is processed, causing it to be denied, which is extremely frustrating. 10-07 Calculation of CityFHEPS Rental Assistance Payment Amount - Rooms. They are suffering and we need help. 10-04 (a) (8) (A) and 10-04 (b) and 10-04 (c) Remove the 90-day qualifying shelter stay requirement for shelter residents. Its a joke. I support multiple proposed changes in the Rule, including the clarification of the definition of street homlessness and eligibility expansion to include unsheltered New Yorkers; the explication that SCRIE and DRIE households are able to use CityFHEPS vouchers towards their rent; and the creation of a project-based CityFHEPS program which will allow non-profit housing providers to contract with HRA for permanent housing. Click here for the new payment standards. NYC.gov We also applaud several other proposed changes, including the creation of a project-based CityFHEPS program, expanded CityFHEPS eligibility for unsheltered New Yorkers, and the clarification that Taken via City Council video livestream by Sarah Belle Lin. A lot of individuals will become homeless again otherwise. As of September 1, 2021, the payment standards, or the maximum rent that the subsidy will pay, for CityFHEPS are now linked to the Fair Market Rent, which is significantly higher than the previous payment standards. The proposed amendment that sets renewal eligibility at 250 percent of FPL must be rejected, and the rules must instead be amended so that households maintain eligibility until 30 percent of their income is equal to their rent. God Help Us All!!! What is needed to transform our homeless response? The Citys data on HRA DV emergency shelter exits demonstrates that households, especially families with children, are more likely to transfer from DV emergency shelter to another shelter rather than moving to permanent housing, upon reaching the state-set 90-day limit. New York City remains in the worst homelessness crisis in a century, with some 51,000 people living in Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelters each night, and hundreds of thousands more at risk of losing their homes due to loss of income during the COVID-19 pandemic. HRA should do that on September 1, 2021. I know my family is not the only one going through a hardship like this and we certainly wont be the last. The new amounts went into effect on January 1, 2023, for CityFHEPS and at the end of January 2023 for FHEPS. Someone working 35 hours a week at $15/hr. Under Section 8, the household only becomes ineligible for rental assistance once 30% of their income is equal to their rent, allowing the household to earn more and ensuring they are not rent-burdened after the voucher ends. We recommend all individuals with a current CityFHEPS shopping letter contact the provider that gave them the shopping letter to request a new one that shows the updated payment standards. Our vouchers will not cover the rent for the 130% AMI units in higher opportunity areas in NYC unless the unit is a studio or 1-bedroom. A program recipients contribution to rent is capped at 30% of monthly gross income, which amounts to less than $800 based on the FPL (also here) (See 10-06(b) on page 28). Disclaimer: The Codes and other documents that appear on this site may not yet reflect the most current legislation or rules adopted by the City. Its pretty well known that the shelter system has two users: many people who need assistance due to poverty or inability to manage a home; and, many others who leave their families or use the system for free housing or eventually a Section 8 type voucher. That is 1,241 families with minors that left shelter for yet another shelter. PDF THE HOMELESSNESS CRISIS IN NEW YORK CITY - Nexcess CDN In not doing so, the cycle of homelessness is perpetuated and people cannot better themselves in the way that they are often criticized for not doing. Adopted by Constitutional Convention of 1938 and approved by vote of the I have filled out countless housingconnect forms ,applied for Section 8 as far as white plans and new jerseys.
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