Committee on General Welfare

This bill would prohibit homeless families with children from being temporarily housed in private buildings with more than five class C housing maintenance code violations. Current homeless families with children in such buildings would be permitted to remain, but no additional families with children would be housed in such buildings until corrections have been certified by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

This bill would require that the Mayor provide written and verbal notification of the right to be placed in a Department of Social Services (DSS) shelter to individuals and families who are housed in specific types of emergency congregate housing in New York City. The notification would include that such individuals and families have the right to be placed in a DSS shelter within 24 hours of their request to be placed in such a shelter. If the City fails to meet its responsibility to provide this shelter, the bill would require that the City report the failure within one calendar day of the failure.

This bill would establish minimum standards for emergency congregate housing in New York City, including at the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers (HERRCs) established to address the increase of migrants in the City. Standards would mirror those that apply to shelters operated by the Department of Social Services including beds being at least three feet apart and at least 30 inches in width, toiletries and secure lockers being provided, a clean, well-maintained, working shower for every fifteen individuals, a clean, well maintained and working toilet and/or urinal and sink for every ten individuals, access to laundry facilities, meals and accommodations for dietary needs and restrictions, and various services and resources

This bill would require the Department of Homeless Services to ensure that eligibility specialists are available at every shelter to assist residents with determining eligibility for public assistance benefits. The Department would have to maintain eligibility specialists at a ratio of 1 per every 25 adult shelter residents, create a training program for eligibility specialists, and assess the performance of eligibility specialists. The bill would also make clarifying amendments to the same chapter of the Administrative Code by redesignating two sections with duplicate numbers.

This bill would set 30 days as the maximum time that the Department of Social Services/Human Resources Administration may require a street homeless applicant to have received case management services to be eligible for certain rental assistance programs.

This bill would require the Commissioner of the Department of Social Services or another commissioner designated by the mayor to develop a voluntary survey of individuals exiting the shelter and migrant re-ticketing systems. The survey would elicit information related to the immediate destinations of individuals exiting locations offering shelter and migrant re-ticketing services. Case managers and onsite staff at locations providing shelter and migrant re-ticketing services would administer the survey in the best language of individuals taking the survey. The commissioner would submit to the mayor and the Council an annual report regarding the anonymized, aggregated survey results.

This bill would require the Department of Social Services (DSS) to create one shelter in each borough for LGBTQ single adults. The bill would also require that DSS report the total cost of each shelter, the number of individuals served at each shelter, and the impact and effectiveness of the shelters.

This bill would require the Mayor to designate an office or agency to offer training and operational support to staff of food pantries. The training and operational support would concern ensuring sufficient food inventory, making efforts to maintain food inventory that reflects food variety and local food preferences, maintaining sufficient hours, and other relevant issues. The designated office or agency would be required to conduct outreach to food pantries to advertise the available training and operational support. Lastly, the designated office or agency would be required to report annually to the Mayor and the Speaker of the Council on the types of training and operational support it offered within the previous 12 months and number of food pantry staff who participated in the trainings within this period, and to post this report online.

This bill would require the Department of Social Services to expand the Homebase program to additional locations throughout the city. A year after the deadline for expansion, the commissioner must submit a report on the effectiveness of the Homebase program and its expansion.

This bill would require the Department of Homeless Services to submit quarterly reports on shelter facilities that exclusively serve LGBTQ single adults, including information regarding how many people enter each shelter, how many people exit each shelter and enter permanent housing, and what services are provided.