Morano highlights bipartisan partnership and veteran homelessness data

I'm joined by my colleague, Councilmember Crystal Hudson, Chair of the Committee on General Welfare.

And we're doing this joint oversight hearing on one of the most important issues facing New York today, and that's the issue of veteran homelessness in New York City.

Thank you for joining us to discuss this important topic.

I was so eager to co-chair this hearing with Councilmember Hudson, not only because of my respect for her as a councilmember, but because we do not see the world the same way.

We come from different political parties, different ideologies, different boroughs, different genders.

If there's a difference chart, we're just about on a different page when it comes to everything.

But we're on the same page when it comes to the importance of needing to do something about veteran homelessness.

And in addition to hopefully getting a lot of great ideas in terms of future legislation, in addition to shining a light on some things that need to be shining a light on, in addition to enhancing our own edification of some real issues that veterans are facing

and at the conditions at Borden Avenue specifically, my hope is that by having two people like us who come from totally different corners of the world

addressing this problem in a very real way and take it seriously, hopefully this is a wake-up call to the

8.5 million New Yorkers that might not be attuned to this issue, that we have 140,000 to 150,000 people that could really use help in this city.

And that's why I'm excited about this.

Many communities across the country, New York City continues to face a homelessness crisis driven by rising housing costs and a shortage of affordable housing, among other things.

And our veterans are not immune to these challenges.

And ensuring that those who served our country have access to stable housing remains a critical responsibility.

Now, the good news is New York City has made significant progress in reducing veteran homelessness over the past decade.

In 2025, there were 697 homeless veterans in New York City.

That's down from 1,558 homeless veterans in 2015.

That's a 44% decrease.

I can promise you I'm going to be working pretty hard on this issue until that number goes from 697 to zero.

There's no excuse for veteran homelessness in New York City as far as I'm concerned.

And the successes that we've had are due in part to the coordinated efforts of DVS, DSS, and their partners.

We're going to hear from them all today.

Veterans experiencing homelessness can access emergency shelter, transitional housing, rental assistance, case management, and permanent housing opportunities.

And these services have helped many veterans move from homelessness to permanent housing and achieve long-term stability.

However, between 2015 and 2020,

Between 2022 and 2025, the number of homeless veterans has increased a little bit.

Since 2022, we have seen an increase from 482 to 297 individuals.

So while we're in a much better position from where we were 10 years ago, we're not in as good of a position as where we were four years ago.

What's going on?

What's driving that?

Why do we have more homeless veterans now than we did in 2022?

And more importantly, what can we do about it?

So this increase is raising a lot of important questions about whether existing housing resources, supportive services, and homelessness prevention efforts are keeping pace with current needs.