What's happening
This bill eliminates rent and work requirements for homeless shelter residents and prohibits shelters from collecting income or contributions from them.
Why it matters
Removes barriers to shelter access. by ensuring that homeless individuals and families are no longer required to participate in work activities or pay any rent/contributions as a condition for receiving temporary housing assistance, reducing administrative and financial hurdles that can prevent people from accessing shelter.
Expands protections to all types of shelters. including family shelters, domestic violence shelters, youth shelters, and others—ensuring that the prohibition on collecting income or requiring work applies broadly across the state’s entire shelter system.
Creates accountability and enforcement mechanisms. by instituting penalties (up to $500 per violation) and potential loss of public funding for shelters that violate these provisions, along with a process for shelters to appeal or seek reinstatement of funding after demonstrated corrective actions.
Shifts the approach to homelessness. from one that conditions help on compliance or payment, to one that treats shelter as an unconditional safety net, reflecting a policy view that access to shelter should not depend on ability to pay or willingness to work.
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Who cares
Headline styles
End Shelter Rent for Homeless
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Print number 6177a
- Amend (t) and recommit to social services
- Referred to social services
- Referred to social services
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
End Shelter Rent Charges
In Assembly Committee · Codes · Sponsor Andrew Hevesi
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6177--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 21, 2019
Introduced by Sen. MYRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Social Services -- recommitted to the Committee on Social Services in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to eliminating rent for homeless shelters; and to repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 36-c of the social services law is REPEALED.
§ 2. Section 131 of the social services law is amended by adding two new subdivisions 21 and 22 to read as follows:
21. The office of temporary and disability assistance shall prohibit any publicly funded provider of temporary housing assistance, including but not limited to those defined in subdivision sixteen of section one hundred thirty-one-a of this title from requiring recipients of such assistance to participate in work activities, including but not limited to those defined in section three hundred thirty-six of this chapter, as a condition to receive temporary housing assistance from such provider.
22. a. Any temporary housing assistance provider found to be collecting income, room and board or any other type of contribution in violation of subdivision sixteen of section one hundred thirty-one-a of this title, shall, after notice and an opportunity to be heard by the department, be required to return any funds collected in violation of this section to such recipient and may be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed five hundred dollars for each violation. The department shall adopt procedures in accordance with the state administrative procedure act for assessment of penalties pursuant to this section. Such procedure shall include the opportunity for an administrative appeal. Any provider found to have violated this section and who is subsequently found to
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06131-03-0
S. 6177--A 2
have violated this section five or more times within one year of the initial finding may be determined, at the discretion of the department and taking into consideration the geographic availability of similar services, to be ineligible to receive public funding for a period not to exceed five years.
b. Any provider which has been deemed ineligible to receive public funding pursuant to this section may apply to the department for an order discontinuing such disqualification. The application shall set forth the grounds, including that the provider has taken sufficient actions to remove from responsibility officers and employees who engaged in the actions that formed the basis of the violation, that the provider has taken appropriate and sufficient actions to ensure that the actions that formed the basis of the violation are unlikely to recur, and that it will not be in the public interest to continue the disqualification.
§ 3. Section 131-a of the social services law is amended by adding a new subdivision 16 to read as follows:
16. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule or regulation to the contrary, a homeless individual or family applying for or receiving temporary housing assistance shall not be required to pay room and board or contribute any earned or unearned income, available benefits or resources to eliminate their need for temporary housing assistance or as a condition to receive temporary housing assistance from such provider. For the purposes of this subdivision, any provider of temporary housing assistance or short-term housing shall include, but not be limited to, a family shelter, a cluster site apartment, a shelter for adults, a United States Department of Housing and Urban Development assisted transitional housing shelter, a public home, a hotel, an emergency apartment, a domestic violence shelter, a runaway and homeless youth shelter, a room and board shelter, a safe haven shelter, a veterans short-term housing shelter, a criminal justice short-term housing shelter, or a safe house for refugees, asylees, or trafficking victims operating in New York state.
§ 4. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to eliminating rent for homeless shelters; and to repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto
Purpose
This bill would prevent shelter providers; owners, managers, and employ- ees from taking any form of payment, including rent or a percentage of an individual's workforce stipend, from those residing in a homeless shelter in New York State.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 repeals Section 36-c of the Social Services Law.
Section 2 amends Section 131 of the Social Services Law by adding two new subdivisions which prohibit any publically funded provider of tempo- rary housing assistance from requiring individuals to participate in work activities as a condition of receiving temporary housing assistance from such provider. Any provider of temporary housing assistance found to be collecting income, room and board, or any other type of contrib- ution will be required to return funds collected to the individual and may be subjected to a civil penalty. Providers with multiple violations may lose public funding for a period of time.
Section 3 amends Section 131-a of the Social Services Law by adding a new subdivision which states a homeless individual or family applying for or receiving temporary assistance shall not be required to pay room and board or contribute any earned or unearned income, available bene- fits or resources to eliminate the need for shelter or as a condition to receive temporary housing assistance.
Section 4 establishes the effective date.
Difference between original and amended version (if applicable)
Repeals Section 36-c of the Social Services Law.
Justification
Temporary housing assistance is provided to eligible homeless individ- uals and families to meet an immediate need for shelter. Currently, homeless individuals and families are being forced to pay a percentage of their limited income in order to stay in a homeless shelter.
These individuals and families are in crisis. Requiring them to pay rent in shelter is cruel and counter-productive: making it financially more difficult for the homeless to move out of shelter, while creating an incentive to shelter operators for longer stays in shelter.
Shelter providers, who pay their residents a stipend for work performed, and then take a percentage of the stipend, are essentially doing the same thing taking money out of the hands of traumatized people in desperate circumstances. This bill prohibits both methods of charging what is essentially rent as a condition of staying in a homeless shel- ter.
Legislative history
2019: A.7612 (Hevesi)
Fiscal implications for state and local governments
To be determined.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.