1 Before the New York State
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1 BEFORE THE NEW YORK STATE SENATE FINANCE AND ASSEMBLY WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEES ------------------------------------------------------ JOINT LEGISLATIVE HEARING In the Matter of the 2018-2019 EXECUTIVE BUDGET ON HOUSING ------------------------------------------------------ Hearing Room B Legislative Office Building Albany, New York January 24, 2018 9:38 a.m. PRESIDING: Senator Catharine M. Young Chair, Senate Finance Committee Assemblywoman Helene E. Weinstein Chair, Assembly Ways & Means Committee PRESENT: Senator Liz Krueger Senate Finance Committee (RM) Assemblyman Robert C. Oaks Assembly Ways & Means Committee (RM) Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz Chair, Assembly Housing Committee Senator Diane J. Savino Vice Chair, Senate Finance Committee Assemblyman Michael Cusick Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley Senator Jamaal Bailey 2 1 2018-2019 Executive Budget Housing 2 1-24-18 3 PRESENT: (Continued) 4 Assemblyman Michael J. Fitzpatrick 5 Senator James N. Tedisco 6 Assemblywoman Carmen N. De La Rosa 7 Assemblyman Félix Ortiz 8 Assemblyman Jeffrion L. Aubry 9 Senator Brian Kavanagh 10 Assemblywoman Vivian E. Cook 11 Senator Gustavo Rivera 12 Senator Elizabeth O'C. Little 13 Assemblyman Victor M. Pichardo 14 Senator Elaine Phillips 15 Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda 16 Assemblyman Eric M. Dilan 17 Senator Martin M. Dilan 18 Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes 19 Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis 20 Assemblyman Michael Blake 21 Senator Phil Boyle 22 Assemblywoman Earlene Hooper 23 Senator Patricia A. Ritchie 24 Assemblywoman Diana C. Richardson 3 1 2018-2019 Executive Budget Housing 2 1-24-18 3 PRESENT: (Continued) 4 Senator Brian Benjamin 5 Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner 6 Senator Leroy Comrie 7 Assemblywoman Latrice Walker 8 Assemblyman N. Nick Perry 9 10 11 LIST OF SPEAKERS 12 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 13 RuthAnne Visnauskas Commissioner & CEO 14 New York State Homes and Community Renewal 7 11 15 Duncan Barrett 16 Executive Board Member NYS Association for 17 Affordable Housing 174 179 18 Cara Long Corra Executive Director 19 Neighborhood Preservation Coalition of NYS 205 211 20 Laura Mascuch 21 Executive Director Supportive Housing Network 22 of New York 230 236 23 24 4 1 2018-2019 Executive Budget Housing 2 1-24-18 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Cont. 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Blair Sebastian Director 6 New York State Rural Advocates -and- 7 Colin McKnight Acting Executive Director 8 New York State Rural Housing Coalition 244 254 9 Rachel Fee 10 Executive Director New York Housing Conference 265 11 -and- Judi Kende 12 VP and NY Market Leader Enterprise Community 13 Partners 265 272 14 Kathryn Carroll Policy Analyst 15 Center for Disability Rights, Inc. 287 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 5 1 CHAIRWOMAN WEINSTEIN: Good morning. 2 Today we begin the second in a series of 3 hearings conducted by the joint fiscal 4 committees of the Legislature regarding the 5 Governor's proposed budget for fiscal year 6 2018-2019. The hearings are conducted 7 pursuant to Article VII, section 3 of the 8 Constitution and Article 2, Sections 31 and 9 32A of the Legislative Law. 10 Today the Assembly Ways and Means 11 Committee and the Senate Finance Committee 12 will hear testimony concerning the Governor's 13 budget proposal for housing. And later on 14 we'll also have the -- there will be a second 15 hearing, on workforce. 16 I'll introduce members of the 17 Assembly, and then Senator Young, chair of 18 the Senate Finance Committee, will introduce 19 members from the Senate. In addition, 20 Ranking Member Oaks will introduce members 21 from his conference. 22 So I would like to just acknowledge 23 that we have with us, from the Assembly, 24 Assemblyman Aubry, Assemblywoman Cook, 6 1 Assemblyman Cusick, Assemblyman Mosley, and 2 our Housing chair, Assemblyman Steve 3 Cymbrowitz. 4 Bob? 5 ASSEMBLYMAN OAKS: Sure. I'm 6 Assemblyman Bob Oaks, and we're also joined 7 by the ranker on the Housing Committee, Mike 8 Fitzpatrick. 9 CHAIRWOMAN YOUNG: Thank you. Good 10 morning. I'm Senator Cathy Young, chair of 11 the Senate Finance Committee. 12 And I'm very pleased that we are 13 joined by several of our colleagues today. 14 We have Vice Chair Diane Savino, we have 15 Housing Chair Betty Little, we have Ranking 16 Member Liz Krueger, also Senator Elaine 17 Phillips, Senator Jim Tedisco, Senator Jamaal 18 Bailey, and Senator Gustavo Rivera. 19 CHAIRWOMAN WEINSTEIN: Before we 20 introduce the first witness, I'd like to 21 remind all the witnesses testifying today to 22 keep your statements within your allotted 23 time limits so that everyone will be afforded 24 the opportunity to speak. 7 1 And witnesses are respectfully 2 reminded that if you've submitted your 3 testimony in writing, that it will be made 4 part of the record of the hearing; therefore, 5 there's no need to read it verbatim. In 6 fact, our experience has shown that the best 7 presentations to the committee are the ones 8 that provide a concise statement and give us 9 an opportunity to have a back-and-forth of 10 questions. 11 So with that being said, I would just 12 remind witnesses and the members to keep an 13 eye on the clock. We had an efficient 14 hearing yesterday, and hopefully that bodes 15 well for the next 12 hearings. 16 So our first witness is Commissioner 17 RuthAnne Visnauskas of New York State Homes 18 and Community Renewal. RuthAnne? 19 COMMISSIONER VISNAUSKAS: Thank you. 20 Good morning, Chairpersons Young, 21 Weinstein, Little, Cymbrowitz, and 22 distinguished members of the Legislature. My 23 name is RuthAnne Visnauskas, and I'm the 24 commissioner of New York State Homes and 8 1 Community Renewal. It's a pleasure to 2 testify before you on the housing portion of 3 Governor Andrew Cuomo's Executive Budget 4 proposal for state fiscal year 2018-2019. 5 The Governor's commitment to providing 6 all New Yorkers with access to safe, 7 affordable housing is reflected in the 8 state's $20 billion, five-year housing plan. 9 The plan makes housing accessible and combats 10 homelessness by building and preserving 11 112,000 units of affordable housing, 12 including 6,000 units of supportive housing. 13 The plan is a comprehensive approach to 14 statewide housing issues, and it includes 15 multifamily housing, single-family housing, 16 community development, as well as rent 17 stabilization. 18 In calendar year 2017, HCR created or 19 preserved more than 17,000 affordable homes, 20 including more than 9,000 multifamily units 21 of affordable housing. 22 To give a little bit of detail, this 23 year we preserved over 600 Mitchell-Lama 24 units. We financed over 1,000 units for 9 1 seniors, frail elderly, and our veterans. We 2 are working to preserve over a thousand units 3 of public housing. And we are on track to 4 build the 6,000 units of supportive housing 5 to help address the homelessness crisis. We 6 are fully underway, and we are on track. 7 On the single-family side, our State 8 of New York Mortgage Agency, known as SONYMA, 9 continues to make homeownership affordable 10 for first-time buyers of single-family 11 houses. In 2017, SONYMA offered over 12 $400 million in mortgage loans that enabled 13 more than 2,000 first-time homebuyers to own 14 their homes. 15 We're also investing in preserving the 16 state's stock of mobile and manufactured 17 homes, which are critical housing for so many 18 New Yorkers, especially those in our upstate 19 communities. And because vibrant communities 20 attract people and businesses, HCR works to 21 develop not just housing, but also 22 neighborhoods and communities. 23 We are particularly proud of our 24 New York Main Street program that awarded 10 1 more than $7 million in 2017 to help renovate 2 nearly 100 residential units and 174 3 commercial spaces in downtowns. 4 And lastly, as you know, a large part 5 of our agency's work is focused on the 6 tenants and the owners of New York City's and 7 the surrounding areas' rent-stabilized stock. 8 The Office of Rent Administration processes 9 applications and handles inquiries of the 10 tenants and owners of over 900,000 11 rent-regulated apartments. We continue to 12 achieve operational efficiencies that enable 13 us to more quickly respond to our 14 constituents, processing over 24,000 15 individual cases each year. 16 To date, our Tenant Protection Unit 17 has applied data and analytics to return over 18 62,000 apartments to rent regulation. 19 And this is all just a snapshot of 20 what we have achieved. We have come a long 21 way, but there is more to do. The fiscal 22 2019 Executive Budget proposal closes a 23 $4.4 billion gap while maintaining funding 24 for critical housing programs and continuing 11 1 the $20 billion housing plan. We look 2 forward to putting these investments to work 3 on behalf of New Yorkers. And as always, we 4 are thankful for the Legislature's 5 partnership, which has been instrumental to 6 our success. And I ask for your continued 7 support securing the resources we need to 8 make life better for New York families. 9 Thank you. And I'm happy to address 10 your questions. 11 CHAIRWOMAN WEINSTEIN: Thank you. 12 Our first member to ask questions is 13 Assemblyman Cymbrowitz. 14 ASSEMBLYMAN CYMBROWITZ: Good morning, 15 everyone. Commissioner. 16 COMMISSIONER VISNAUSKAS: Good 17 morning. 18 ASSEMBLYMAN CYMBROWITZ: Thank you, 19 everyone, for being here.