S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    136
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 8, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Social Services
 
 AN ACT in relation to enacting the supportive housing modernization act
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.   Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 the "supportive housing modernization act".
   § 2. Legislative intent. Supportive housing is an exponentially impor-
 tant social service that has evolved over the past four decades. At  the
 heart  of  any supportive housing program, the core is the same: helping
 people at risk of and experiencing homelessness and other related  chal-
 lenges through the provision of social services within housing, connect-
 ing  residents  with  essential  community-based services such as mental
 health counseling, substance use treatment, and job training.
   In 1987, a program called New York State  Supportive  Housing  Program
 (NYSSHP)  was  created.  It  currently  exists  under the New York State
 Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) and it is the quin-
 tessential example of early supportive housing interventions that demon-
 strated success as a cost-effective solution to homelessness and a model
 for preserving existing affordable housing stock. As a result, New  York
 state developed a succession of new and better-funded supportive housing
 programs  to  more  comprehensively meet tenants' needs, paying for both
 services and rental  assistance/operating  costs.  However,  NYSSHP  has
 continued all these years without any significant change or modification
 to  the  underlying  funding formula -- $2,964 per year for individuals,
 $3,900 for families. Currently, NYSSHP partially funds services in  more
 than  20,000  supportive units and is the sole source of service funding
 in approximately 9,000 of those  units  but  the  payment  structure  is
 creating deficits from the service providers.

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD00207-01-5
              

 S. 136                              2
 
   On  the  other  hand,  the  Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative
 (ESSHI) was created in 2016. ESSHI is an interagency  program  solicita-
 tion  administered  by  the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH)
 that provides supportive service and operating funds  to  sustain  newly
 developed  permanent supportive housing units. ESSHI funds both services
 and operating costs at $25,000 per unit and  expanded  to  ten  explicit
 population  categories,  including  frail elderly, survivors of domestic
 violence and veterans.
   Conclusively, both NYSSHP and ESSHI serve the same populations through
 the provision of the same supportive housing model. However, only  ESSHI
 allows  the  providers  to  recoup  the necessary cost of providing both
 excellent housing and a full complement of wrap-around social  services.
 In  the last twenty years, one-third of NYSSHP providers have either had
 to merge with another agency,  close  their  doors,  or  stop  providing
 supportive  housing services altogether. Without the option to modernize
 contracts at ESSHI rates, supportive housing units will be lost.
   Therefore, this legislation does the only rational thing: allowing all
 NYSSHP providers the option to modernize  their  contract  rates  up  to
 ESSHI levels.
   §  3.  Notwithstanding any provision of law, rule or regulation to the
 contrary, for five years following the effective date of  this  act  any
 entity  participating  in  the New York state supportive housing program
 (NYSSHP) in good standing with such program may elect to participate  in
 a  request  for  proposal  to  increase their contract rates up to ESSHI
 levels.
   § 4. The office of temporary and disability assistance  shall  promul-
 gate  all rules and regulations necessary for the implementation of this
 act.
   § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of January next  succeed-
 ing the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately,
 the  addition,  amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation neces-
 sary for the implementation of  this  act  on  its  effective  date  are
 authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.