Sebastian Vontae (Safe Horizon) on bed rates, RFP, and youth housing access
Sebastian Vontae of Safe Horizon describes operating two drop-in centers, a crisis shelter, and mobile street outreach. He highlights the impact of federal SNAP exemptions being removed for homeless youth, urges raising bed rates to $80,000, committing to release the next RFP, and including RHY youth in voucher program design and NYCHA N0 priority.
I'll go first.
Good afternoon, Chair Stevens and members of the committee.
My name is Sebastian Vontae, and I serve as the AVP of Street Work Programs at Safe Horizon, where we believe safety is a human right.
We operate two drop-in centers, a crisis shelter, and mobile street outreach.
Twelve years ago, when I interviewed for my first job at Street Work, one of the people sitting across the table from me was a young person in the program.
Today, that young person, today that person is a case manager on my staff.
That is who I think about when we talk about bed rates and contracts, because every one of those things is what stood between him and the street.
I want to tell you what he would be walking into today.
In February, federal law took away the SNAP exemption for
people experiencing homelessness and for young people who age out of foster care.
So a 19-year-old sleeping in our shelter now has to document 80 hours of work a month or lose their food benefits after three.
Many of them will not make it, and when the benefits stop, they don't disappear.
They come to our door hungry and we feed them.
That is why we are asking you to raise the rate to $80,000 per bed.
The rate has not moved in years.
Rent has moved, food has moved, security has moved, health insurance for staff has moved.
Everything it takes to keep a young person safe overnight costs more than it did the last time anyone adjusted what we're paid to do it.
We have absorbed that quietly year after year by stretching staff and trimming what we can afford to offer.
There is nothing left to trim.
We are not asking for growth.
We are asking to keep the kitchen stocked and the beds open.
We are also asking DYCD to commit publicly to releasing the next RFP.
Our contracts end in June 2027.
We cannot hire someone into a job I can't promise will still exist.
And we are asking the city to stop treating our young people as a separate category,
put providers and youth in the room when these vouchers are designed, give our young people access to homeless set-aside units and to NYCHA N0 priority.
A young person in DYCD bed is just as homeless as anyone in a DHS shelter.
They just came through a different door.
Thank you.