A 8509: Removes the requirement that any earned income from a homeless family in Westchester county receiving temporary housing assistance be applied to room and board, or to eliminate a need for temporary housing assistance, or as a condition to receive temporary housing assistance.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8509 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY May 20, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Social Services AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to earned income contributions by homeless families receiving temporary housing assist- ance in Westchester county; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 131-a of the social services law is amended by 2 adding a new subdivision 16 to read as follows: 3 16. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule or regulation 4 to the contrary, a homeless family household with dependent children 5 applying for or receiving temporary housing assistance in Westchester 6 county shall not be required to contribute any earned income to room and 7 board, or to eliminate their need for temporary housing assistance, or 8 as a condition to receive temporary housing assistance from such provid- 9 er. For the purposes of this subdivision, any Westchester county provid- 10 er of temporary housing assistance or short-term housing shall include, 11 but not be limited to, a family shelter, a hotel, an emergency apart- 12 ment, a domestic violence shelter, or a transitional unit. 13 (b) Nothing in this section shall be construed as permitting the state 14 to reimburse Westchester county for temporary housing for homeless fami- 15 lies with earned income at a rate of less than one hundred percent, and 16 shall be treated as if Westchester county were still obtaining contrib- 17 utions from these households. 18 (c) Nothing in this section shall be construed as creating any addi- 19 tional requirement for Westchester county to provide temporary housing 20 assistance or short-term housing. 21 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed- 22 ing the date on which it shall have become a law and shall expire and be 23 deemed repealed two years after such date. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD11612-01-5