§ 36-C — Savings plan for the city of New York

* § 36-c. Savings plan for the city of New York. 1. Notwithstanding\nany other provision of law to the contrary, in any social services\ndistrict with a city having a population of five million or more, the\nsocial services district shall conduct a demonstration project as set\nforth in this section, and shall evaluate and report on such project\nannually, pursuant to a plan approved by the office of temporary and\ndisability assistance and the division of budget. A comprehensive report\nshall be provided to the governor, the temporary president of the senate\nand the speaker of the assembly by December thirty-first, two thousand\ntwenty-one. Such report shall include but not be limited to information\nregarding the program such as the number of participants for the\nprevious three years; the percentage of participation as measured by the\nnumber of participants making contributions into such savings plan; the\naverage amount payable to a participant upon leaving the program; the\naverage length of time a participant remained in the program; the number\nof situations in which the participant moved out of the program but\nreengaged in the program within the previous twelve months; the number\nof participants leaving the program voluntarily and the number of\nparticipants removed due to failure to comply; and any other\ndemonstrated outcomes of such program.\n 2. Such social services district, in lieu of applying that portion of\na temporary housing assistance recipient's earned income that, but for\nthe provisions of this section, would be applied to reduce the need for\nthe shelter component of temporary housing assistance provided in a\ntemporary emergency shelter, shall direct such a recipient to\nparticipate in a savings plan with such funds and, as long as such funds\nare not withdrawn, they shall not be applied to reduce the need for the\nshelter component of the temporary housing assistance granted for the\nduration of his or her residence in temporary emergency shelter;\nprovided, however, that the provisions of this section shall only apply\nto a person receiving temporary housing assistance in a shelter or other\nfacility overseen by the New York city department of homeless services\nor the New York city department of housing preservation and development.\nFailure by a recipient of temporary housing assistance to contribute to\nsuch a savings plan shall result in the discontinuance of temporary\nhousing assistance. Provided however, such discontinuance shall be\nimmediately curable by compliance with this section.\n 3. In such social services district, any such funds collected from the\nearned income of a recipient of temporary housing assistance while he or\nshe is residing in a temporary emergency shelter shall be deposited in a\nsavings plan approved by the office of temporary and disability\nassistance and the division of budget; shall be payable to the recipient\nfor the recipient's use to facilitate his or her transition to, or\nstabilize his or her residence in, permanent housing upon his or her\ndischarge from shelter or upon verification of such recipient's date of\ndischarge from shelter; and shall be considered exempt as income or a\nresource until the twelfth month following the month in which the\nrecipient ceases receiving temporary housing assistance in temporary\nemergency shelter. Funds collected in such savings plans shall be\npooled, tracked individually, and maintained in a savings or\nmoney-market account at interest rates set by the institution with which\nsuch funds are deposited. Any savings and interest accrued in such\naccount or accounts shall be distributed to a temporary housing\nassistance recipient upon his or her discharge from temporary emergency\nshelter or upon verification of such recipient's date of discharge from\nshelter, in accordance with the provisions of this section.\n 4. Such social services district shall be deemed in compliance with\nsection one hundred thirty-one-a of this chapter for reimbursement of\nexpenditures made for temporary housing assistance, provided the\ndistrict is conducting the project fully in accordance with the\nprovisions of this section. Unearned income of a recipient of temporary\nhousing assistance in such social services district shall not be applied\nto the savings plan, and shall not be required to be applied to that\nportion of the shelter costs not paid for with public assistance.\nTemporary housing assistance recipients shall not be required to\ncontribute to the cost of such shelter, as provided for in this section.\nSuch project shall not be implemented so as to compromise the federal\nbenefits of a recipient or any of his or her household members.\n 5. Upon the effective date of this subdivision, such social services\ndistrict shall suspend implementation of the demonstration program,\nprovided that (a) the recipient's need for the shelter component of\ntemporary housing assistance shall not be reduced by the portion of a\nrecipient's earned income that the recipient would have been required\nunder subdivision two of this section to deposit in a savings plan, and\n(b) funds collected from recipients pursuant to this section prior to\nthe effective date of this subdivision shall continue to be treated and\nmade payable to recipients in accordance with the provisions of\nsubdivision three of this section.\n * NB Repealed March 31, 2030\n