On December 19th, City Council passed Intro 1211-a. This piece of legislation takes a bold and decisive step in implementing a housing policy that puts us on the path to ending homelessness in New York City. Intro 1211-a requires most city development projects who receive city subsidies to set aside 15% of their units for people experiencing homelessness. It was introduced by Council Member Rafael Salamanca Jr. and has been endorsed by the House Our Future NY Campaign because it creates an additional 1,000 units of housing each year will be created for our neighbors most in need. This is in addition to the current commitment of 15,000 units over 10 years in the Mayor’s affordable housing plan.

We applaud Speaker Johnson, Council Member Salamanca and our allies in the City Council for their leadership in prioritizing the needs of people experiencing homelessness. The negative impacts of homelessness are far reaching and if we are to comprehensively address the needs of this vulnerable population, we must ensure that they have a safe and stable place to live.

As Council Member Salamanca said, “This is hope, we are giving homeless families hope, Intro 1211 sets us on a path to create what we need most to address the issue at hand: thousands of units if new permanent housing for the thousands of men, women and children who are looking for a place to call home”.

After the vote both Council Member Salamanca and Speaker Johnson joined advocates in the rotunda to celebrate this accomplishment. Speaker Johnson said, “I think this will be one of the most important things City Council does in its entire four year session, and I think after he (Salamanca) and I are gone from the Council and we continue to fight homelessness, this is going to be one of the things that eventually one day, when we hopefully end homelessness in NYC, they will say it started with this (Intro 1211). It started with set aside for homeless families to make sure that every person, every development that is getting our tax payers money has to do their part to house homeless people”.

We are thankful to our allies in the House Our Future Campaign for their relentless advocacy. We are also thankful for our allies in the City Council for taking a critical step in the path to ending homelessness in NYC.