Budget bills were introduced over the weekend based on an agreement between leadership, the “three men in a room”. The legislature is expected to vote on the bill this coming week. Of course, Senate Democrats still need to keep their slim majority together for the vote or there is a possibility the budget as it is written won’t pass.
Rural Advocates continue to play a significant role in the housing budget. Because of your efforts, the Preservation Program and Rural Rent once again remain more or less intact. If the budget passes as written, the Rural Preservation program will receive $5,770,700 This should result in RPC contracts that exceed $85,000 this year. In addition, the life time cap on both RPCs and NPCs has been eliminated. There is language that provides State Rental Assistance for potential new RD construction projects. Expiring contracts are extended for one year.
Housing capital did not get an increase over the old baselines as proposed. RESTORE was funded as the Governor proposed at only $400,000. We will continue to work with DHCR to streamline administration of the capital funds that are available. Given the budget crisis we face, we are not surprised to see that IDDP, Main Street RARP and UI did not get funded. HTF was funded at $29 M and AHC at $25 M and HHAP is at $30 million.
NEW YORK STATE RURAL ADVOCATES 