Video, Audio, & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Signs Legislation to Combat Homelessness and Expand Access to Stable Housing

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks are available below:

Thank you, Susan, for reminding us why we're here. You mentioned this is an extended family and indeed it is. And families step up when family members need help. And that's exactly what this organization has done for over 100 years and for that, we are forever grateful. The lives that you touch day in and day out.

And you may think we don't see you, but we do. And we are so deeply appreciative of what you do here at Goddard Riverside and other partners like Jacqueline Simone, our policy director for the Coalition of Homeless - I want to thank her for her unwavering commitment to make sure that everyone has the dignity of a roof over their heads.

So thank you. And all the advocates who are here today. It has been a long journey for many of you and I thank you for never giving up the fight. You are the ones that the people you're representing look to, to carry on for them when they're having to deal with whatever adversity the day may bring for them. You are out there as their voices. And I'm grateful for that as well.

I'm also grateful for incredible elected leaders that we have in this district. True champions, who again will make sure that they take an idea that they learned from the community, the people they represent with such heart and soul, and they take that to Albany and they overcome all the hurdles that exist.

And there have been a lot of hurdles over the years to get things done. But the legislature is where the ideas are formed, and they are developed there and they get through the process and they get through hearings and it gets to a vote. And at this point, when it's an opportunity for me to do something, which is simply to sign into law what they did, I say to them, thank you for being such incredible partners.

And I'm speaking about, first of all, our senators, Senator Brad Hoylman, who will be joining us — oh he has joined us, Senator Brad Hoylman, but sponsors of this bill, Brian Kavanaugh, you are a true champion for people in need of housing and insecurity. Thank you. Thank you, Brian.

And our Assembly sponsor Linda Rosenthal. I know how people feel about their elected leaders here. People don't feel this way all over the state about their elected leaders. I tell you I've been elected official for a long time, but when I would walk into a senior center with Linda even like seven, eight years ago, and it was just like, you know, who's that Lieutenant Governor? Linda's here! She's a rock star. So, thank you for the connection you've made with your community, because that's what we're seeing here is the love you have for your district, realized through legislation that we're working on here today.

Also great partners like Senator Robert Jackson, a tremendous advocate for this community. I want to thank you for all you do, Senator Jackson. I mentioned Senator Holyman as well.

Our Borough President, Gale Brewer, who is everywhere all day long. What a leader she has been - just a true friend.

And Danny O'Donnell's here, Danny. Thank you for your work in the Assembly. He makes sure that his district is so well-represented in our state legislature, thank you, Danny O'Donnell.

And I come out of local government. I was a council member at one point in my life, and I want to thank Steve Levin for all his work, because a lot of this work does get done at the local level. Steve, thank you for what you do here.

Before I get started to talk about the issue at hand, which is really the effect of COVID and how it's had such a paralyzing impact on people who are already housing insecure and is really taking people who are on the edge and in many cases, they dropped off through no fault of their own.

Well, let's go back to why this started, some of it in the first place. The additional stresses created by the pandemic that Susan just spoke about, that people who thought they were going to be okay, but all of a sudden they lose a job and they can't make that payment. And all of a sudden everything that they thought was going to be okay collapses before their eyes, no fault of their own. And this happened to literally thousands of New Yorkers. And the good news is, is that we've had a vaccine in place now, and I commend the 80% of New Yorkers who are vaccinated, that's statewide — New York City's even higher — I thank them.

But I have to say, and I've been warning about this for months now, that we saw a trend happening based on what happened last year. That as we enter the winter months and the holiday seasons from Thanksgiving, people gathered together, people gathering with vulnerable members of the family, the older ones, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, all the way through the holidays of December and into New Year's, and all the way up, even to Super Bowl weekend - places where people gather indoors primarily.

We had predicted that if we didn't get more people vaccinated, and ultimately boosted, and now with layering on a new variant, we have 20 cases in New York but it spreads very quickly, we're entering a time of uncertainty. And we can either plateau here or our cases could escalate beyond control. We are staggering upward. My friends I've been watching this closely. We're heading upward in a direction that I find is no longer sustainable.

And I've said all along, I have two priorities. Protect the public health of New Yorkers, but also protect the health of the economy. And one of the reasons we have so many people who are housing insecure and food insecure and dealing with all the specters of the fallout of the pandemic, mental health crises, suicide is up, addiction, opioid deaths are up. All of this is an effect on the human condition because of what we went through in the past. I don't want to go back ever again to that place where people couldn't go to their jobs safely, couldn't congregate, kids couldn't go to schools. That isolation had a devastating effect on the human condition. And we're still dealing with the fallout today.

So to avoid that situation, I today am announcing that we are enacting a statewide indoor mask mandate unless a business has a vaccination mandate. Many people in New York City are already dealing with this. Been dealing with it for a while. You've been doing great. And that is why your hospital capacity is good. That's why your vaccination numbers are high. Your infections are not as high as the rest of the state.

But the rest of the state now has a wake-up call. I've been warning. I've been saying, if we can't get more people vaccinated or boosted, I have to protect people, but also the economy. I want to make sure that the little businesses that were hurt so hard during the pandemic and has shut down, resulting in the loss of income of all the people who worked for them. We have to prevent that from happening. And that's why it's just this morning I announced that we're taking that action statewide and I wanted you to hear that here and I'll be answering questions on that shortly. So we draw that connection. Thank you.

My plan is to make it temporary, it starts on Monday. We'll reassess on January 15th, just so businesses have clarity. They don't find out last minute. We've been talking to businesses throughout the week to make sure they know what's happening.

So I talked about the pandemic. I talked about the great work that's being done here now. And let's talk about the people who are housing insecure and what we can do to help them. And that's why we're here today. We know that too many New Yorkers missed a paycheck, missed a mortgage payment. Were not able to pay a medical bill that came in. And more than ever, families need to know that they're going to be okay. People just want the confidence to know that they can protect themselves and protect their kids.

And we have been taking action. My first days on the job as your governor, and I've been on, I think less than four months, we took major action to make sure that the rent relief money that had been jammed up $2 billion waiting to go out to people who were deserving. We unclogged that drain. We've got the money flowing out again. Same thing with the Excluded Worker to make sure that people who are undocumented could receive money that they desperately needed as well. We also funded legal services for tenants to protect their rights, $25 million to go toward that and we're looking at increasing that in the future. The Homeowner Assistance Fund, which I just announced. $540 million to people who are homeowners, who are having trouble, struggling to make the mortgage payments, who again, are looking at possible eviction and losing their home or losing their home through foreclosure.

And then there's been the effect on homelessness. You cannot walk the streets of New York without seeing this human catastrophe, this humanitarian crisis. These are God's children as well. They are our fellow brothers and sisters. They deserve the dignity of a roof over their head. So we have to attack this from many fronts and I look forward to working with incoming mayor, Eric Adams. We were together last night and we're going to be sitting down to come up with a cohesive strategy, where, this is a radical concept, my friends, radical idea here, but we're going to be working, the State of New York, hold onto your seats, and the City of New York, will work together! And that's why I want to commend Commissioner Steven Banks as well, for joining us here today and all the work that he has done, his team has been incredible.

So we'll deal with the people who are homeless now, but how about stopping more people from becoming homeless? That's where we're headed, that's where we're headed. So we're going to make sure that we have a policy in place, one that was thought of by the two individuals that I recognized: Assemblymember Rosenthal, Senator Brian Kavanagh.

And today I'm very proud to sign the Family, Homelessness and Eviction Protection Supplement Bill into law. And here's the thing. It's this simple. If we want to get people out of shelters, we have to give them enough money to afford the rent, right? You can't just say, "Go out in the streets. Good luck."

We understand that the rents are going up. Inflation is going up. The money they thought they had is not going as far as it would have even a few months ago. And so we're going to bring the voucher payment to 100% of the fair market rate set by the federal government. And this, by the stroke of a pen will allow thousands of more New Yorkers to be able to leave a shelter and go into a home because for the first time they'll be able to afford it. That's what this bill is going to accomplish.

The Legal Aid Society predicts that this would help at least 2,300 additional people, in addition to the 12,000 who already benefit from this program, and 95% of those people would have been forced to remain in shelters. That's a beautiful image, of people being able to pack up and go into a home that they can call their own, because we made this change to go to 100% of market value. And we know the communities that have been hardest hit just like the pandemic hit the Black and Brown communities the hardest, the evictions and the loss of ability to afford homes hits the Black and Brown communities the hardest as well. And that is something I assure you that my administration is going to be laser focused on.

Eradicating all those inequities, whether it's the housing insecurity, the health disparities, the education disparities, and making sure that there is no longer a gap based on a community, whether it's a community of color or not. That should no longer be a defining indicator of whether or not people are able to live in a home or not. Let's stop that. And let's stop that right now with this legislation.

So we're not out of the woods. I do see the clearing in the distance. We get more people vaccinated and get people back to jobs, we get people back to a sense of normalcy, so the stresses on everyday human life start to lift. And the image of more people being able to be in homes is something that warms my heart during this holiday season, and let's, advocates and all of our elected officials, continue to work together to understand why we do what we do.

We are literally here on this planet to better the lives of not ourselves, but to better the lives of other people. This step today will go a long way for giving people a gift that they never expected this holiday season, and that is their own home. And I thank everyone involved. Thank you to our sponsors.