§ 63. Legislative findings and declaration. The legislature hereby\nfinds and declares that many homeless families live in overcrowded and\noften dilapidated welfare hotels in cities with a population of one\nmillion or more; that welfare hotel placements are expensive and yet\noffer only minimal shelter services; and that while the state and cities\nwith a population of one million or more must continue to develop cost\neffective alternatives to welfare hotels, ultimately permanent housing\nis the only real answer to the homeless problem. It is further found\nthat absent development of more permanent housing, lengths of stay in\ntemporary shelters will continue to increase forcing an even more rapid\nescalation in the welfare hotel population and the concomitant growth in\ntotal state e
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§ 63. Legislative findings and declaration. The legislature hereby\nfinds and declares that many homeless families live in overcrowded and\noften dilapidated welfare hotels in cities with a population of one\nmillion or more; that welfare hotel placements are expensive and yet\noffer only minimal shelter services; and that while the state and cities\nwith a population of one million or more must continue to develop cost\neffective alternatives to welfare hotels, ultimately permanent housing\nis the only real answer to the homeless problem. It is further found\nthat absent development of more permanent housing, lengths of stay in\ntemporary shelters will continue to increase forcing an even more rapid\nescalation in the welfare hotel population and the concomitant growth in\ntotal state emergency shelter spending.\n The legislature further finds that the New York state infrastructure\ntrust fund provides a unique opportunity to increase permanent housing\nfor homeless families. The legislature therefore finds that the state\nshould dedicate New York state infrastructure trust fund moneys to the\ncreation of permanent housing for families in cities with a population\nof one million or more who are homeless or at risk of being homeless and\nprimarily for families referred from hotels, motels or tier II shelters\nfor families; that such state funds shall be matched by an equal amount\nof city funding and that the city of New York in the most recent\nhomeless families plan submitted to the council of the city of New York\nby the human resources administration has proposed to provide\neighty-five million dollars for such funding; that permanent housing\nprojects shall be constructed or rehabilitated and sites selected in\naccordance with a homeless families plan.\n The legislature further finds that the key elements of such projects\nshall be: identification by the city of proposed project sites; review\nby an advisory board of the sites proposed by the city in order to\nidentify those buildings and properties that can be expeditiously\ndeveloped and produce the maximum number of units at the lowest cost per\nunit; approval of recommended sites by the city; administration of\nconstruction or rehabilitation activities by the New York state housing\nfinance agency; and selection of a developer or developers to design,\nconstruct or rehabilitate permanent housing projects for homeless\nfamilies.\n