Public Policy Initiatives

Published: March 29, 2024

Type: Housing Affordability & Stability, Policy Briefs & Position Papers, Other Advocacy Materials

Combatting Homelessness with HAVP

Anyone following the news knows that New York City is experiencing an unprecedented homelessness crisis, which has been exacerbated by the arrival of over 160,000 migrants over the last year and a half. Today, over 150,000 people in the city call shelters ‘home’ — 50,000 more than the population of Albany, NY. Let us say that again: there are more homeless New Yorkers than there are residents of our state capital. But while some see this crisis as a threat to the City, it is an incredible opportunity for New York if our leaders take the right steps to welcome these newcomers and integrate them into our communities. One critical step is the statewide Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP), which was included in the one-house budgets for the New York State Senate and the Assembly. This is a monumental step forward that will enable migrant families to move out of shelter and find stability, advance school and community integration across all of New York State — one of the nation’s most racially and economically segregated states — and save our government billions of taxpayer dollars.