A 2134: Establishes a five-year window for any entity participating in the New York state supportive housing program (NYSSHP) in good standing with such program to participate in a request for proposal to increase their contract rates up to ESSHI levels.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2134 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY January 15, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. HEVESI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Social Services AN ACT in relation to enacting the supportive housing modernization act The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "supportive housing modernization act". 3 § 2. Legislative intent. Supportive housing is an exponentially impor- 4 tant social service that has evolved over the past four decades. At the 5 heart of any supportive housing program, the core is the same: helping 6 people at risk of and experiencing homelessness and other related chal- 7 lenges through the provision of social services within housing, connect- 8 ing residents with essential community-based services such as mental 9 health counseling, substance use treatment, and job training. 10 In 1987, a program called New York State Supportive Housing Program 11 (NYSSHP) was created. It currently exists under the New York State 12 Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) and it is the quin- 13 tessential example of early supportive housing interventions that demon- 14 strated success as a cost-effective solution to homelessness and a model 15 for preserving existing affordable housing stock. As a result, New York 16 state developed a succession of new and better-funded supportive housing 17 programs to more comprehensively meet tenants' needs, paying for both 18 services and rental assistance/operating costs. However, NYSSHP has 19 continued all these years without any significant change or modification 20 to the underlying funding formula -- $2,964 per year for individuals, 21 $3,900 for families. Currently, NYSSHP partially funds services in more 22 than 20,000 supportive units and is the sole source of service funding 23 in approximately 9,000 of those units but the payment structure is 24 creating deficits from the service providers. 25 On the other hand, the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative 26 (ESSHI) was created in 2016. ESSHI is an interagency program solicita- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD00207-01-5 
 A. 2134 2 1 tion administered by the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) 2 that provides supportive service and operating funds to sustain newly 3 developed permanent supportive housing units. ESSHI funds both services 4 and operating costs at $25,000 per unit and expanded to ten explicit 5 population categories, including frail elderly, survivors of domestic 6 violence and veterans. 7 Conclusively, both NYSSHP and ESSHI serve the same populations through 8 the provision of the same supportive housing model. However, only ESSHI 9 allows the providers to recoup the necessary cost of providing both 10 excellent housing and a full complement of wrap-around social services. 11 In the last twenty years, one-third of NYSSHP providers have either had 12 to merge with another agency, close their doors, or stop providing 13 supportive housing services altogether. Without the option to modernize 14 contracts at ESSHI rates, supportive housing units will be lost. 15 Therefore, this legislation does the only rational thing: allowing all 16 NYSSHP providers the option to modernize their contract rates up to 17 ESSHI levels. 18 § 3. Notwithstanding any provision of law, rule or regulation to the 19 contrary, for five years following the effective date of this act any 20 entity participating in the New York state supportive housing program 21 (NYSSHP) in good standing with such program may elect to participate in 22 a request for proposal to increase their contract rates up to ESSHI 23 levels. 24 § 4. The office of temporary and disability assistance shall promul- 25 gate all rules and regulations necessary for the implementation of this 26 act. 27 § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed- 28 ing the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, 29 the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation neces- 30 sary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are 31 authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.