My title is Rhonda Jackson and I’m a proud mom, grandmother, disabled and retired New York Metropolis Transit Authority employee, and a life-long New Yorker. That is my house. I care about this state, and I would like it to proceed to be a spot the place generations of New Yorkers can stay and thrive. Nonetheless, we’re at present within the midst of a housing disaster. Our governor has the facility to ease it. So, I’m asking her at this time, as a fellow mom, grandmother, and New Yorker, please battle for the Housing Entry Voucher Program (HAVP) in Albany and assist numerous households like mine get the assist we desperately want.
Governor Hochul, as a grandmother, you understand how treasured it’s to observe your grandchild develop up. I additionally know the way deeply you could love her and need to hold her protected. Do you bear in mind the primary time she acknowledged you or the primary time you held her shut, her new child odor?
Think about in case your grandchild was left with out a house. In case your youngster needed to pack up and transfer away, taking your grandchild with them as a result of they have been left with out the protection of a everlasting place to stay or left with out choices. Think about spending holidays alone, watching pictures as an alternative of listening to your grandchild’s laughter.
That’s what occurred to me. When my daughter fled a home scenario to be able to hold her kids protected, they misplaced their house, faculties, mates, household and have been thrust into homelessness, all to flee violence. I misplaced my household. My house is empty and virtually unbearably quiet. It didn’t need to be this manner and also you, Governor Hochul, have the facility to make sure this doesn’t occur to anybody else.
The HAVP is an answer and it might have saved my household collectively in our house state of New York. This rental help program is designed to assist households keep of their communities, houses, and faculties. This isn’t only a program; it’s a lifeline, particularly for individuals like me —grandparents determined to remain near our households and the kids we love.
Can you place a price ticket on guaranteeing all kids like your grandchild have a protected place to name house? In response to a report launched by the non-profit Win, the $250 million used to fund the Housing Entry Voucher Program would serve 12,457 households representing practically 28,653 people throughout New York State. In New York Metropolis, our metropolis may save $144 million by implementing HAVP.
I do know your loved ones navigated comparable hardships, together with your grandmother and mom additionally experiencing the trauma of an abusive house. I do know your dad and mom fought laborious to provide you and your siblings alternatives they by no means had, together with your father working at a metal plant at night time and going to high school in the course of the day. Now you may have the chance to make life rather less troublesome for the New York households dwelling the identical experiences as your dad and mom. I’m asking you to grab that chance and ship actual assist for households struggling in New York Metropolis and throughout the state.
1000’s of New York households have been displaced already, many due to the shortage of inexpensive housing out there. The information substantiates this; New York continues to rank as one of many high states households are leaving from to go to extra inexpensive states.
Governor Hochul, please ask your self: What would you do should you have been in my footwear? In case your grandchild was taken out of your every day life, wouldn’t you do every part in your energy to be there? You’ve gotten that energy now. You may guarantee no mum or dad, youngster, or grandparent should endure the ache of being separated from their household as a result of housing disaster.
Please battle for HAVP this yr, as households like mine want it now greater than ever. Combat for the households who merely need to keep collectively and discover everlasting housing within the cities they grew up in. Combat for the grandmothers like me, such as you. You know the way fleeting these treasured moments are. Don’t let one other household miss out on time with their grandchild as a result of households can’t afford to remain in New York and construct a life right here. Confronted with a rising housing scarcity, we’re relying on you to assist hardworking New Yorkers and ship the assist we desperately want. The housing disaster and affordability disaster are relentless. Housing vouchers are a path ahead. Please act on this at this time.
Rhonda Jackson is a lived expertise neighborhood engagement guide and Senior Fellow with the Household Homeless Coalition, Household Peer Advocate (FPA), licensed Grasp Coach, and Co-founder of IMANATION, a grassroots undertaking devoted to advocating for change and shifting the trajectory of youngsters and households experiencing shelter by investing into their future.
