“Governor Hochul’s priorities—public safety, affordable housing, and the mental health crisis—are in line with the top concerns of New York’s major employers. These issues represent the biggest post-pandemic threat to the livability and economic vitality of our city and state.
For the past four months, the Partnership for New York City and sixty of its member companies have contracted with nonprofit homeless services provider Breaking Ground to expand outreach services to unsheltered individuals living on the streets and subways in major business districts. This program is revealing evidence of the gaps in our systems for humanely addressing the city’s homeless and seriously mentally ill. The proposals being put forward by the Governor are consistent with the most urgent needs we are seeing: safe-haven transitional accommodations (as opposed to congregate shelters); more extensive evaluation and psychiatric services and additional inpatient psychiatric beds; as well as appropriate funding for adequate health care and supportive services.
When it comes to housing, the city and state need a menu of program options that support expanded production and preservation of both market rate and subsidized homes. That is the direction the Governor is pressing for and hopefully one that the legislature will follow.
Legislators will, hopefully, work with the Governor to make the investments and policy changes necessary to achieve her ambitious but very sensible goals.”