CityFHEPS

Continued from page 15 council’s bills. They found that there could be an “annual savings of $730 million given the estimated costs of the current system and potential reform of CityFHEPS.”

The council also posted a rebuttal that went through the op-ed almost line by line, refuting each of the mayor’s arguments with support from plenty of on-the-ground nonprofits.

“During his campaign, Mayor Adams publicly pledged to give youth experiencing homelessness in the Department of Youth and Community Development shelter system access to CityFHEPS vouchers within the first hundred days of his term,” said Executive Director of the Coalition for Homeless Youth Jamie Powlovich in a statement. “Not only did he fail to keep his promise, but he also vetoed the bills that will satisfy that pledge.”

Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), said the mayor’s emergency approach to housing immigrants during the asylum seeker crisis has remained short-sighted, costly, and ineffective. He thanked City Council members for the vote to

“Hattie Carthan recognized that taking care of our environment was a collective act of love for one another and the neighborhoods we call home,” said Reynoso in a statement. “This isn’t just about Hattie’s legacy of environ- mentalism; it’s also about what drove her advocacy: community power, nature as a force for the education of our young people, and our right to breathe clean air, find solace on a hot summer day, and walk streets lined with the same beauty that sits in the soul of Brooklyn. If we all pitch in, we can deliver on Hattie’s vision for our borough and help Magnolia Tree reach its full potential.” Councilmember Chi Ossé added that the center is a “historical anchor and neighborhood centerpiece” that must be the Mozambican government’s own attempts to have Chang face trial in Mozambique. Some groups opposed his return to his country because of concerns he would probably be treated leniently. He has also been denied bail. The judge, citing the amount of money involved and the gravity of the charges, agreed with prosecutors that he could be a flight risk. override the mayor.

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

At least 10 people have already been convicted and sentenced to prison by a Mozambican court over the scandal, including Ndambi Guebuza, the son of former Mozambican president Armando Guebuza, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for receiving up to $33 million from the corrupt deal.

The consequences of the crime “will last generations,” the judge said.

“This has ultimately exacerbated the load on our alreadyoverburdened shelter system,” said Awawdeh. “Thanks to NYC Council Speaker Adams and the NYC Council, more New Yorkers will finally be able to leave,… skip entering our overburdened shelter system, and get into permanent housing and on the road to self-reliance and stability. By relieving pressure on the shelter system, we hope that this will mean a reduction in the use of HERRCs, which are often located in neighborhoods with poor access to public transportation [and] essential services, and don’t always have basic amenities like showers or proper access to bathrooms, making them ineffective locations for both the short-term and longterm needs of new arrivals.”

As imagined, Mayor Adams was less than pleased with the override. He said that his administration’s efforts on housing have been working since he agreed to lift the 90-day rule a few weeks before the override, and have put a “record number” of people into permanent housing using CityFHEPS vouchers last fiscal year.

“The good news is that our ef forts to house more New Yorkers, even in the midst of a humani tarian crisis, are working,” he said in a statement. “Unlike the council, we do not, however, believe that New Yorkers should spend $17 billion on a package of bills that would put New Yorkers in shelter at the back of the line for a CityFHEPS voucher and make it harder for them to find permanent housing. We will continue to do all that we can to build more housing and tackle decades of exclusionary zoning policies that have prevented our city from building an adequate housing supply. We are reviewing our options and next steps.”

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; deductible gift of any amount