Reports out of Albany state that the Assembly and Senate have released their “one-house” budget bills and are expected to begin negotiating a final budget later today. The stated timeline goal is to complete the budget by next week, which means that we must continue to advocate for programs and services that will help the state’s most vulnerable, especially those who are homeless or at risk for homelessness and those living with HIV/AIDS.
Because the budget is slated to be completed by next week, your advocacy is greatly needed in the next 24 hours! Below is a summary from the Supportive Housing Network of New York that lists budget items that are of great importance to the State’s supportive housing and HIV/AIDS programming and talking points for each issue.
Get on the phone and start making those calls!
Item 1: Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) Homeless Housing and Prevention Services Budget–New York State Supportive Housing Program (NYSSHP) & Solutions to End Homelessness Program (STEHP)
Currently the NY Assembly proposes adding $3.1 million for NYSSHP and STEHP, while the Senate’s one-house budget proposal does not contain any additions to NYSSHP or STEHP.
ADVOCACY ACTION NEEDED: Call Senator Robach (District 56) TODAY (518-455-2909) and urge the Senate to ADD $4.1 MILLION to the OTDA Homeless Housing and Prevention Services budget. This amount would pay for services in all recently opened and about-to-open supportive housing residences and save the supportive housing and prevention programs OTDA was unable to fund under a recent request for proposals.
Item 2: Department of Health Medicaid Redesign Team Supportive Housing Program
The Assembly maintains the entire $179 million for the Medicaid Redesign Team Supportive Housing Program ($91 million state match), while the Senate proposes to decrease the baseline amount by $25 million and funding the program at $154 million, with a $78.5 million state match. This reduction will affect more than 4,600 Medicaid users in need of supportive housing, which may increase their Medicaid costs and place their stable housing in peril. If Medicaid patients do not have access to adequate housing, they are far more likely to end up in institutional settings, which would greatly increase Medicaid and other costs.
ADVOCACY ACTION NEEDED: Call Health Committee Chair, Senator Hannon (District 6) TODAY (518-455-2200) to urge the Senate to FULLY FUND the MRT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING FUND at $179 million and RESTORE the $25 million.
Item 3: Department of Health NY/NY III AIDS Institute Funding
In rare agreement, both the Assembly and Senate are rejecting the Governor’s proposal to include the DOH AIDS Institute in a single budget line with all other health programs and restore the 10% cut. They fund all existing 89 programs and restore it to last year’s level. Their proposals, however, do not specifically include New York/New York III funding as a stand alone program, as this has been historically included in a bucket with other programs at the AIDS Institute. While these funds have been safeguarded in years past, we remain concerned about this structure and need to continue advocating for full funding of $7.2 million.
ADVOCACY ACTION NEEDED: Call Health Committee Chairs Senator Hannon (518-455-2200) and Assemblyman Gottfried (Assembly District 75) (518-455-5939) to ensure $7.2 million is allocated for AIDS Institute NY/NY III programs.
With less than one week to go before the NY State Budget is finalized, we must act now! Please reshare this list with five of your friends. Together we can create change!
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