What's happening
This bill requires New York's Office of Children and Family Services to maintain a real-time, publicly searchable database of available beds for runaway and homeless youth.
Why it matters
Enhances transparency and access to services. by making real-time information about shelter availability for runaway and homeless youth easily accessible online and via a mobile app, empowering youth, families, and service providers to find help faster.
Improves resource allocation and crisis response. by giving agencies, advocates, and policymakers up-to-date data on where beds are available, helping to reduce wait times and potentially making it easier to match youth with appropriate services.
Supports vulnerable and diverse populations. by ensuring that searchable details include age range, duration of stay, and types of services offered, which can be especially important for youth with specific needs (such as LGBTQ+ youth or those needing longer-term care).
Holds service providers and the state accountable. for maintaining accurate and timely information, which could highlight gaps in the system and encourage further investment in youth homelessness services.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Track Shelter Beds for Youth
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 7
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to children and families
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.
Track Beds for Homeless Youth
In Assembly Committee · Children And Families · Sponsor Linda Rosenthal
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
7737
IN SENATE
February 12, 2020
Introduced by Sen. KAPLAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring the office of children and family services to maintain a database of available beds for runaway and/or homeless youth
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 8 of section 532-e of the executive law is renumbered subdivision 9.
§ 2. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 7 of section 532-e of the executive law, as added by chapter 361 of the laws of 2019, is amended and a new subdivision 8 is added to read as follows:
(e) how to address the families of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth; [and]
8. work with service providers to gather information to create and maintain a publicly searchable database of available beds at residential facilities currently available for runaway and/or homeless youth on the office's website and on a companion phone application. Such database shall be updated in real time and shall provide and be searchable by the following information:
(a) the name and address of the facility;
(b) the number of beds available at the facility;
(c) the age range allowable for the available bed;
(d) the length of time the runaway and/or homeless youth may stay at the facility; and
(e) the services offered at the facility; and
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09709-03-0
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring the office of children and family services to maintain a database of available beds for runaway and/or homeless youth
Purpose
This bill requires the office of children and family services to main- tain a database of available beds for runaway and/or homeless youth.
Summary of specific provisions
Section one amends Subdivision 8 of section 532-e of the executive law, as amended by chapter 361 of the laws of 2019.
Section two sets forth the effective date.
Justification
The needs of the homeless youth population in New York State are incred- ibly acute. The risks of sexual exploitation faced by the runway and homeless youth (RHY) population are immense, as many runaway youth often turn to survival sex and fall under the influence of traffickers and pimps. Further, approximately 40 percent of RHY population identifies as LGBT, often facing outright rejection from their families and their homes. And, many homeless youth have a history of engagement with the criminal justice system, and are often forced to turn to crime as a means of last resort.
Though New York City has expanded its network of beds at residential facilities specifically available for runaway and homeless youth, more beds are needed in the City and statewide to accommodate the growing population of runaway and homeless youth. These beds help provide imme- diate stability to RHY populations, and also serve as a vital bridge to needed longer term supportive services. With a high concentration of beds in urban areas and an overall shortage of beds statewide, RHY popu- lations must have access to accurate information about the location and availability of beds in their communities and beyond. No such database exists.
This legislation requires the Office of Children and Family Services to work with service providers statewide to create a publicly searchable database of available RHY beds, to be maintained on the department's website. The database must be updated in real time and include the following information: name and address of facility, number of beds available, age range allowed, number of beds available, length of allow- able stay and the full range of services available at that facility. This information is vital to ensure that the support services available for the RHY community in New York State are maximized.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
Undetermined.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.