Cathy Batista of Anthos Home testifies in support of CityFHEPS bills

Good afternoon, Chair Hudson and members of the committee.

I'm Kathy Batista and I'm the Chief Program Officer at Anthos Home.

We help New Yorkers move from shelter into permanent homes.

And since 2023, we've helped nearly 1,500 New Yorkers move in with vouchers.

We're also members of the Family Homeless Coalition and support the testimony of the coalition members you heard from earlier today.

Their experience informs our policy requests today.

We strongly support intros 98, 100, 101, and 641.

Vouchers work.

They are the fiscally responsible choice.

Sheltering a family costs more than $8,100 a month, and a two-bedroom voucher costs $3,058.

At the same time, vouchers can be very hard to use.

The state controller found that only 20% of households with a shopping letter get their CityFest voucher approved.

Too often, administrative difficulties stand between a family and their home.

A complete voucher package can be over 100 pages, and one minor error can send it back.

Voucher holders resubmit and resubmit, and while they wait, documents expire.

Incomes change, and property providers walk away.

Property providers also face delays scheduling inspections, re-inspections, over small repairs and late payments.

These bills address just that.

that.

Intro 98 establishes a separate process for resolving minor unit repairs.

Intro 100 requires the city to report how long the process actually takes.

Intro 101 guarantees review and response within 15 days.

And Intro 641 makes sure property providers are paid on time.

We also ask that the city report the most common reasons packages are rejected so we can fix the errors that reoccur.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on these bills, which present logical, impactful, and low-cost changes to the city FEP's process.

We appreciate the committee's consideration and support advancing the bills to the full council.

Thank you so much.