Michael Matos testifies on Borden conditions and oversight failures

Good morning, Chair Murano, Chair Hudson, and members of both committees.

My name is Michael Matos, and I serve as the president of the Five Borough Veterans.

On September 24th, we learned from the press the city of New York had withdrawn from the VA's grant and per diem program, a $4 million a year funding source that has supported the Board and Avenue Veterans residents for 20 years.

With residents'futures uncertain and both governments blaming each other, we filed records requests with the VA and the Department of Homeless Services on the same day.

The VA has since responded.

The city quoted us a date of December 30th.

What followed exposed failures at every level of the system responsible for these residents.

On October 24th, excuse me,

On October 1st, we went to Borden for an investigative interview with the press to hear from residents about how the funding dispute would affect them.

What they told us about conditions inside raised serious concerns, and those concerns reached the city council.

That day, council members Julie Wan and Phil Wong arrived to use their oversight authority under the city.

City Charter.

The administration told them they needed an escort and a scheduled appointment.

I stood beside Councilmember Wan as she was verbally berated on speakerphone by the mayor's office for using that authority.

Residents report abuse, inevitable food, cramped quarters, broken facilities, and a roof that leaks where they sleep and a kitchen they are not allowed to use.

Some have gone a week without an edible meal.

At this time, we are in conversation with the Department of Investigation to investigate the shelter's operator, the Institute for Community Living, and with the city comptroller to audit its contract.

If the operator falls short, the community is calling for a new provider from within the veteran community.

We are also concerned about how the Department of Social Services handles oversight.

Before a visit, the department asks elected officials to sign a form.

It treats as a nondisclosure agreement.

Chair Murano shared that form with us.

It is a patient confidentiality agreement, not a nondisclosure agreement.

Protecting residents'privacy is important, but using that form to limit what access elected officials can have at a facility does not protect residents.

We have also seen firsthand what advance notice makes possible.

On October 5th, residents contacted us because they were being pressured to rush a cleanup before the Commissioner of Social Services arrived that evening, a visit that was never announced to the Council.

We went to board in that night with Council Members Wong and Wan and confronted the Commissioner directly.

That is our central concern with how oversight visits are handled.

When the city knows who is coming, problems get covered up instead of fixed.

The site only works when officials see a facility the way the residents live in it every day.

We also recently learned that the Department of Veterans Services has a satellite office inside the board and building.

City staff whose job is to serve veterans have been working under the same roof as these conditions.

On October 7th, I asked Commissioner Mata directly whether her agency knew.

She did not answer the question and spoke only about her agency's role in benefits and services.

The commissioner is now our community's last voice in city government.

When veterans ask what she knows and what she's done about it, they deserve a direct answer, not to avoid the question as the well-being of these residents hang in the balance.

Finally, the funding.

For nearly 20 years, the VA's grant and per diem program has helped pay for this shelter.

The city has said it's walked away because the new grant terms would have barred transgender veterans from receiving services.

No veteran should be turned away, and we support that principle.

But we reviewed the VA's records release with the offices of several elected officials.

Unless that language sits on a redacted page, there is no such requirement.

We asked the administration to explain why I walked away from this funding, how much city money will replace it, where that money will come from, and how it will get

guarantee that no veteran on boarding goes without services.

Every level of this system owes our veterans accountability and transparency, the operator, the agencies that oversee it, and City Hall.

Our community is told often that it is valued and honored.

We hear thank you for your service at every parade and every ceremony.

Borden Avenue shows how little priority our veterans actually receive.

We ask as council to hold each level accountable, so those words mean something to the veterans living at boarding today and across New York City going forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.