Jerry Hippolyte of Housing Solutions of New York testifies on CityFHEPS journey

Good afternoon, Chair Hudson and members of the Committee on General Welfare.

My name is Jerry Hippolyte, Chief of Staff and Head of Government Affairs at Housing Solutions of New York.

Across more than 30 sites, including 187 supportive housing units, HSNY serves over 7,800 New Yorkers each year and helps over 1,000 into permanent housing.

From that experience, we know that CityFEPS is one of the city's most important tools for moving New Yorkers out of shelter.

But issuing a voucher is not the finish line.

The real measure of success really speaks to vouchers that go through door to permanent housing.

And so that's why HSNY supports the goals of Intros 98, 100, 101, and 641, to which you'll see the full details of our support in the written statement.

But together, these bills address critical points in the journey, from timeliness to practical determinations, greater transparency around lease-up times, faster application decisions, and reliable rental assistance payments.

So for individuals experiencing homelessness, every unnecessary delay means more time in a shelter.

For landlords, delay really undermined the confidence in the program.

And for providers, not to belabor.

but I've heard it from many of my peers, this means losing out on an apartment that we worked really, really hard to secure for one of our clients.

And so we truly encourage the city to measure its city FEPS from application truly to move.

And I'll even add one of the statements that our peers mentioned earlier, even the pre-screening, we're looking at the entire process with this focus on speed, transparency, and accountability.

One of the exciting things that I heard was the live dashboard straight off the press.

I would love to see what that assessment period actually looks like.

Last but not least, ultimately, success is not a voucher in someone's hand, but the keys to their home.

And for that, I say thank you.

Thank you very much.