Mail this letter to Governor Cuomo

Mr. Andrew M. Cuomo
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY, 12224

To Governor Cuomo,

Salutations. We are high school students from the Freedom and Citizenship program at Columbia University. We come from multiple schools across New York City. Most importantly, we are a group of young concerned citizens who are witnessing the injustice occurring in our great city. That injustice is housing affordability, which has led to the worst crisis of homelessness since the Great Depression. This issue affects adults, men, women and children. There are currently approximately 150,000 homeless children in New York State and another 80,000 families are on the brink of homelessness. Research has shown that every year 19,000 more people become homeless than go from homelessness to permanent housing.

Despite lawmakers’ efforts to alleviate the housing issue in the city, there are still numerous families struggling to afford their rents due to low income and the inability to find employment that pays the rent. We are aware of all the reforms the city and state are making, however, we believe that there is more to be done. Our goal is to introduce housing reforms through the passage of bills that help New Yorkers who are homeless or on the brink of homelessness pay for their housing.

Through our research on ways to improve the housing crisis in our city, we came across the Home Stability Support. Home Stability Support is a statewide rent supplement that assists families in danger of eviction or the misfortune of losing their homes due to dangerous living conditions or domestic violence. We believe that every family has the right to affordable housing and that the state has an obligation to assist them in achieving this.

Sincerely,

Students in support of HSS (see attached signatures)