Press Release
Some Consumer Wins in the State Budget, But No Relief for New Yorkers Facing Housing Insecurity, Inability to Access Health Care Because of their Immigration Status, and Reentry Barriers
After almost four weeks past the April 1 deadline for a new budget, Governor Kathy Hochul and the State Legislature finally overcame the budget impasse and announced a budget agreement last Friday that unfortunately falls short on addressing many of the issues affecting low-income New Yorkers.
Notably, this budget fails to provide meaningful solutions to New York’s housing crisis and lack of healthcare coverage options for undocumented immigrants. We are also disappointed not to see Clean Slate in the final budget despite widespread support from legislators, advocates, unions, and the business community.
In a blow for patients, the wildly successful Community Health Advocates (CHA) program will experience an eight percent budget cut, as a result of the Assembly’s reduction in funding. Last year, CHA helped more than 32,000 New Yorkers use their health insurance, saving them nearly $32 million in healthcare related costs. This cut comes right when nine million New Yorkers will need to renew their coverage for the first time due to changed rules under the termination of the federal Public Health Emergency.
There is some positive news in the budget, however, with regards to other consumer assistance programs. We are grateful that state lawmakers included in the budget $3.250 million for the Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program (EDCAP), $3 million for the Community Health Access to Addiction and Mental Healthcare Project (CHAMP), $300,000 for the Next Door Project (“Record Repair Services Corps”), and the establishment of an Ombudsman Program for People with Developmental Disabilities. These programs are essential to helping New Yorkers navigate the healthcare and student loan systems and remove barriers to successful reentry.
Housing
There were high expectations that state policymakers would tackle New York’s pressing housing needs in this budget. Instead, this budget offers no relief for New Yorkers experiencing unconscionable rent hikes. Millions of renters around the state who would have benefitted from Good Cause eviction protection have been denied a fundamental right to protection from displacement and rent gouging. The budget also fails New Yorkers facing evictions across the State by excluding an expansion of Right to Counsel from the budget. It turns its back on New Yorkers languishing in shelters or facing homelessness by staying silent on the wildly popular Housing Access Voucher Program. Beyond immediate fixes, it does not plan for long term expansion of affordable housing.
While we are glad to see $391 million allocated for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), this funding will have to be shared across tens of thousands of households receiving Section 8, public housing, and other assistance. Because of a decision made by state lawmakers, many more who owed rent during the pandemic in NYCHA and other public housing are left unsure of what the future holds for their housing as this funding covers less than a third of the need. Furthermore, the state has returned to relinquishing any role in addressing NYCHA's $40 billion backlog in capital repairs.
Health Care
CSS is profoundly disappointed that state lawmakers did not take this opportunity to provide health coverage to all low-income New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status. If they had, it would have cost the state nothing, and in fact saved New York taxpayers nearly $500 million in annual Emergency Medicaid costs for this same population. CSS urges lawmakers to secure this reform by enacting the Coverage4All (S2237/A3020) in the coming weeks.
Positive highlights for patients struggling with medical debt include: the requirement for the State Department of Health to adopt a uniform application for Hospital Financial Assistance; the adoption of a Health Insurance Guaranty Fund and a prescription drug price transparency database. Finally, CSS commends state policymakers for agreeing to expand the Medicaid program for working people with disabilities.
Criminal Justice
The Clean Slate Act should have been in the budget because it is an economic bill: Relieving the burden of stale criminal convictions from more than 2.3 million New Yorkers would boost annual earnings by an estimated $7.1 billion by increasing both employment and earnings. A broad coalition of unions, employers, and business associations support Clean Slate, and it must be passed this legislative session.
Economic Security
We applaud state legislators for finally expanding the eligibility for Empire State Child Credit (ESCC) to the state’s youngest residents, aged less than four years, reaching approximately 900,000 children. Yet, the full credit amount will continue to be out of reach of the state’s neediest families—those whose earnings are below the minimum income required to receive the full credit, thus excluding 27 percent of all children in currently eligible families.
Raising the statewide minimum wage to $17 over three years—while it seems to be a step in the right direction, is a long way off from what is currently needed. It is high time that we raised the wage floor to where it would have been if compensation increases had kept with productivity increases: $21/hour.
We are excited that the state has decided to fund universal school meals. CSS’s latest brief shows that 30 percent of New York City residents endure food insecurity, with the rate of hardship rising to 50 percent for low-income New Yorkers. Since the toll from inadequate nutrition among children can be especially high, this measure would likely help around 800,000 students in New York’s public schools.
While we are disappointed about the budget’s shortcomings in the areas of housing, healthcare, and criminal justice, we are hopeful that lawmakers will work to address these issues before the end of the legislative session in June. To that end, CSS will continue to fight for passage of legislation that serves the needs of New Yorkers who lack health care coverage because of their immigration status, face housing affordability issues, and experience discrimination due to old conviction records.