§ 63. Legislative findings and declaration. The legislature hereby
finds and declares that many homeless families live in overcrowded and
often dilapidated welfare hotels in cities with a population of one
million or more; that welfare hotel placements are expensive and yet
offer only minimal shelter services; and that while the state and cities
with a population of one million or more must continue to develop cost
effective alternatives to welfare hotels, ultimately permanent housing
is the only real answer to the homeless problem. It is further found
that absent development of more permanent housing, lengths of stay in
temporary shelters will continue to increase forcing an even more rapid
escalation in the welfare hotel population and the concomitant growth in
total state emergency shelter spending.

The legislature further finds that the New York state infrastructure
trust fund provides a unique opportunity to increase permanent housing
for homeless families. The legislature therefore finds that the state
should dedicate New York state infrastructure trust fund moneys to the
creation of permanent housing for families in cities with a population
of one million or more who are homeless or at risk of being homeless and
primarily for families referred from hotels, motels or tier II shelters
for families; that such state funds shall be matched by an equal amount
of city funding and that the city of New York in the most recent
homeless families plan submitted to the council of the city of New York
by the human resources administration has proposed to provide
eighty-five million dollars for such funding; that permanent housing
projects shall be constructed or rehabilitated and sites selected in
accordance with a homeless families plan.

The legislature further finds that the key elements of such projects
shall be: identification by the city of proposed project sites; review
by an advisory board of the sites proposed by the city in order to
identify those buildings and properties that can be expeditiously
developed and produce the maximum number of units at the lowest cost per
unit; approval of recommended sites by the city; administration of
construction or rehabilitation activities by the New York state housing
finance agency; and selection of a developer or developers to design,
construct or rehabilitate permanent housing projects for homeless
families.