With the passage of the FY11-12 New York State Budget, the governor and legislature eliminated all funding for the Advantage rent subsidy program. This draconian cut will devastate 15,000 households in the first and second years of receiving the Advantage subsidy -- more than 13,000 of which are adult families and families with children, many of whom are just starting to get re-established in the community -- who will no longer receive rental assistance and may become at risk of eviction. Three thousand individuals and families currently poised to leave the shelter system with Advantage will not receive it.
Eliminating the Advantage program without alternative housing placement and rental assistance options will result in extended shelter stays and an increase in shelter capacity. The Department of Homeless Services estimates that the shelter system would swell by 51 percent to a total of over 13,000 families by June 2012. At least 70 new shelters will have to be built in neighborhoods throughout New York City.
And Advantage is a success. For those who have completed the two-year program and been on their own in the community for a year or more, over 90 percent have not returned to shelter. The facts are that Advantage clients are remaining self-sufficient, working, and succeeding on their own. Connecting families to housing assistance, employment and work supports is good public policy.
Opposing advocates championing proposals to prioritize Section 8 and NYCHA public housing are not sensible, nor effective. Section 8 is an unreliable resource, with the federal spigot turning on and off at the will of Congress and no guarantee from year to year as to the number of vouchers available to the City. Furthermore, last year alone homeless families signed more leases with Advantage than all Section 8 vouchers combined citywide. Section 8 is a most effective resource when used as a community-based tool for keeping families and individuals in the community and preventing them from entering shelter. Additionally, there are 135,000 New Yorkers on the waiting list for NYCHA public housing -- a seven year waiting list -- with only 5,000 vacancies.
Advantage is our clients' best option. But the City cannot do it alone. This program is simply too large, with a $140 million projected budget next year alone. For FY12, the projected budget allocates the City to pay $48 million, the State $65 million, and the federal government $27 million. As the state and federal funds are linked, with the loss of the state's funding, so goes the federal dollars, in sum total leaving the Advantage program with $92 million less in support.
New York State should recognize its obligation to support working families who want to leave shelters and re-establish themselves in the community. Advantage was designed in 2007 to be carried by the City and State as partners together, each with a strong interest in the best possible outcome of families moving from shelter. New York City is prepared to continue our share of this successful investment in the lives of those in shelter and is deeply disappointed that the State of New York is not.