<\/p>\n
Gothamist<\/em> Excerpt from Original Article<\/em><\/p>\n A record number of homeless young adults and domestic violence survivors are moving out of shelters and into their own apartments thanks to a pandemic-era program that gave them emergency housing vouchers, according to city officials and homeless advocates.<\/p>\n About 280 young people moved out of shelters into a place of their own since July 2021 and another 115 are waiting to sign leases thanks to the temporary federal Emergency Housing Voucher program, said Mark Zustovich, a spokesperson for New York City Department of Youth & Community Development.<\/p>\n From July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, only 88 young adults moved out of DYCD-funded shelters and support programs into permanent housing, he added.<\/p>\n In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn that followed, the Biden administration and Congress in 2021 created the temporary Emergency Housing Voucher program to help Americans find stable housing. The funding for the program lasts through 2030. The measure was part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which provided $1.9 trillion in economic relief to address the impact of the pandemic. Of that sum, $5 billion went to pay for the Emergency Housing Voucher program, which provided 70,000 housing choice vouchers, commonly known as Section 8, to local public housing authorities across the country. Its purpose is to help people, including those experiencing homelessness or domestic violence, or those who are at high risk for housing instability.<\/p>\n Under the program, low-income residents can choose their housing and the federal government covers most of the rent, which is paid to the landlords.<\/p>\n New York City received 7,788 of the vouchers and all have been issued to residents in homeless shelters or who are low-income, according to William Fowler, a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Housing & Preservation Development, one of two agencies tasked with distributing them.<\/p>\n As of March, 5,375 households found housing, Fowler said. Of those, 4,118 households have already moved into their own homes and another 1,257 have found a place and are waiting to move in. He said about 31% of the vouchers have not been used yet. It could be that people have not found a place or they haven\u2019t submitted their move-in paperwork, Fowler said.<\/p>\n Read the full article here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Safe Horizon’s Streetwork Project helps homeless youth secure housing vouchers and find permanent housing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":{"id":9685,"alt_text":"Support children and families in domestic violence shelters","caption":"Peggy Duffy Memorial fund","description":"Support children and families in domestic violence shelters","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":512,"height":512,"file":"2022\/07\/Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail.png","filesize":31715,"sizes":{"medium":{"file":"Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail-300x300.png","width":300,"height":300,"mime-type":"image\/png","filesize":18595,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail-300x300.png"},"thumbnail":{"file":"Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail-150x150.png","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/png","filesize":8008,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail-150x150.png"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":9684,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail.png"},"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[1659,187],"class_list":["post-10092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-safe-horizon-in-the-news","tag-homeless-youth-housing-voucher","tag-streetwork-project","issue-homeless-youth"],"acf":{"page_header_title":"","title_font_size":"42","page_header_excerpt":"","sub-headline_placement":false,"page_header_image":false,"custom_scripts":false,"show_author_bio":false,"related_initiative_title":"Do you need help?","related_initiative_link":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/streetwork\/","related_initiative_link_text":"Visit our Streetwork page ","featured_posts":[{"ID":10027,"post_author":"12","post_date":"2023-02-08 13:19:18","post_date_gmt":"2023-02-08 18:19:18","post_content":" \r\n\r\nThe City\u00a0<\/em>\r\nBy Jonathan Custodio<\/em>\r\nFebruary 8, 2023\r\nExcerpt from original article<\/em>\r\n\r\nIn 2022, young adults who were working with Safe Horizon applied for studio apartments in a building in the Williamsbridge section of The Bronx.\r\n\r\nOn December 8, Joseph Armato, the landlord\u2019s real estate broker, informed Safe Horizon that nine of its clients had been accepted, including five of the six plaintiffs, according to the suit filed on Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court. A few days later, it alleges, Armato submitted tenancy approval documents signed by Kalaj for the nine apartments.\r\n
\nBy Chau Lam\u00a0<\/em>
\nApril 10, 2023<\/em><\/p>\nSeeking Studios \u2014 and Damages<\/h2>\r\nUnder city and state law, landlords are barred from rejecting any prospective or current tenants from using housing vouchers or discriminating based on source of income.\r\n\r\nAs young adults experiencing unstable housing or homelessness, the six plaintiffs all qualified for an emergency housing voucher program that helps with costs like security deposits and brokers\u2019 fees. The program operates under the same rules as the Section 8 program from which they also all received vouchers to help with rent.\r\n\r\nThe suit seeks to have Kalaj offer apartments to all qualifying Safe Horizon applicants while paying at least $50,000 in compensatory and punitive damages per plaintiff, and to enjoin the building from renting or leasing any units until that\u2019s happened.\r\n\r\nRudolph emphasized that housing is the principal goal for the litigation but that damages are also on the table, especially if the landlord refuses to move forward with housing for their clients.\r\n\r\nWhile the city housing authority is named as a defendant in the suit, \u201cNYCHA has been incredibly helpful to us throughout this process,\u201d Stephanie Rudolph, The Legal Aid Society attorney representing the prospective tenants and Safe Horizon, told THE CITY in an email.<\/strong>\r\n
Waiting Lists<\/h2>\r\nWith limited resources available to support young adults experiencing homelessness, any disruption in supplying them with housing slows down services that can be provided to others. That\u2019s according to Joe Westmacott, assistant director of housing and benefits for Safe Horizon\u2019s Streetwork Project,<\/strong> which operates drop-in centers, a 24-bed shelter and an outreach program for young New Yorkers. Nearly 60% of its clients are Black, and about half identify as LGBTQ, he said.\r\n\r\n\u201cEverything has waiting lists,\u201d Westmacott continued. \u201cWe had 14 clients who were supposed to be already housed in this building, and not not only are they not moved in, but we have to spend time trying to find them other housing so they don\u2019t lose their vouchers.\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd that takes away from time and resources that should be going to other clients if these people have been housed.\u201d\r\n\r\nRead original article here.\u00a0<\/a><\/em>","post_title":"Homeless Youth With Housing Vouchers Illegally Rejected by Bronx Landlord, Suit Alleges","post_excerpt":"Safe Horizon aids in providing housing for youth in need and joins suit combatting source of income discrimination against voucher-holders.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"homeless-youth-housing-voucher-illegally-rejected-landlord","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-10-26 11:12:05","post_modified_gmt":"2023-10-26 15:12:05","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/?p=10027","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"original_url":""},"yoast_head":"\n