Thank you, Deputy Speaker Ayala, and the esteemed members of the Committee on General
Welfare for the opportunity to submit testimony on the Fiscal Year 2026 budget. My name is
Jade Vasquez, and I am the Director of Policy and Research at Win, the largest provider of
shelter and supportive housing to families with children in New York City and the nation. We
operate 16 shelters and nearly 500 supportive housing units across the five boroughs. Each night,
nearly 7,000 people call Win “home,” including 3,800 children.
As the federal government threatens to significantly cut funding for housing, homelessness, and
social welfare programs, it is imperative that our City government allocate more funding for
programs and initiatives that serve the lowest-income New Yorkers, including rental assistance,
cash assistance, and legal aid.
In January, Win released Project Hope, a report outlining administrative and legislative actions
New York City and State lawmakers can take to protect low-income, homeless, and immigrant
New Yorkers from the draconian policies laid out in the conservative blueprint Project 2025. In
anticipation of massive federal cuts to the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) workforce,
the slashing of individual federal benefits, like Section 8 and the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), and the Trump Administration’s mass deportation efforts that are
already underway, we urge the City to