Transcript: Mayor Adams Launches Pilot To Rapidly Connect Families Fleeing Domestic Violence With Permanent Housing

April 15, 2024

Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom, Health and Human Services: I was watching Billy Joel last night, and he was singing New York State of Mind, and I just started to cry. It was pretty beautiful. Good morning, everybody. I am Anne Williams-Isom. I'm the deputy mayor for Health and Human Services. We are here this morning to talk about an action that the administration is taking to help support survivors and families touched by domestic violence.

I'll let the mayor get into details, but some of you know that I have a personal story as a child witness of domestic violence. When we were growing up, before I was six years old, there was violence in our household. And so as I was thinking about it today, in the midst of all of the chaos that was happening, what was the thing that really steadied my mom and my brothers and myself, and I think it was stability, her stability and making sure that she was okay.

It was security and feeling like we were safe, and it was permanency, which is a weird word to use, but the idea that our little house in Queens, that when I look at it now seems super small, but was so important to us and the fact that we were able to have our home. She was a registered nurse, so she had a career. We had our St. Catherine of Siena, thank God for the nuns at the school and for our community.

Those are the things that children need but that adults need also when they're going through challenges. Before I hand it over to the mayor, let me tell you who's here today. We have Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Park, Mayor's Office to End Domestic Gender-Based Violence Acting Commissioner Saloni Sethi. We have Administrator Carter is here today. We have Nicole Branca. Say it again, Nicole.

Nicole Branca, Executive Director, New Destiny Housing: Branca.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Branca. The Executive Director of New Destiny and many others from New Destiny. And we have Daniris Espinal, survivor of domestic violence, who's going to talk to us a little bit about her experience. With that, I am going to turn it over to the mayor.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much and thank you for that personal narrative. That's what I believe is really the trademark of this administration. Each one of us bring our own story, and it's more than just governing. Sometimes, we politicize instead of personalizing the impact of these policies that we're putting in place. I, too, see how small mom's house is right now, but we always had a home. No matter how abusive, dad during his moments, as he was, we had that home. We had that room. We had that place that we can close the door and cry silently and just watch mom the next day with some of the physical presence of it, but she was always just strong.

She would just say, just, "Children, we're going to continue to survive." These are real stories. The home does not displace the pain, but it gives you a place to escape. It's just a moment and we talked about this on the campaign trail. We stated that we were going to do something about domestic violence in this city. This is one of the many steps. It's not the ending step, but it's one of the many steps.

As I look at Daniris, I think about as borough president, many people don't realize with the various cultures we have in the city. You'd think every day New Yorkers don't report it, you go into these various cultures in various societies, various communities that could be insulated, you are ostracized if you report domestic violence. Bahi, who is part of my team now, we were able to support the opening of a Muslim shelter for women who were victims of domestic violence.

That was a significant moment because many of them had nowhere to go, nothing to do. When you look at if English is a second language, how challenging it is, if you come from one of the insulated communities in our city, and they're many, where a woman is trapped inside, and they have to just live with the abuse, they get a lot of attacks from their loved ones, their family members. "Why are you leaving?" "Why are you embarrassing the community?" "Why are you putting your children through that?" The cases are unbelievable, and we hear them over and over again. We are committed to tackling this head-on.

It's a well-kept secret in our city. In my years as a police officer, it was always known, the abuser was told just to walk it off, walk around the block. They would discourage the women or men from reporting the abuse, and we just had to stop, and that's what this administration is doing. Kudos to you, Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom, as you bring your personal narrative to changing the narrative, what abusers are doing and those who are abused, what they're going through.

Everyone deserves a safe home and a safe relationship and to be given the freedom and dignity that they deserve and not have to deal with domestic and/or gender-based violence. For too many New Yorkers, home is not safe, and you are caught in that web of not being able to move forward economically, and a place to live, and a place to take care of your loved ones, and their lives are ripped apart due to the abuse in environments. Imagine coming home, afraid to walk into your home because someone is there that's going to physically, verbally abuse you. That is so traumatic because home is your safety and for far too many, they are not experiencing that safety.

Their options are narrow because the state can have terrible consequences on their ability to earn money, find a place to live, and simply stay safe. Too often, domestic violence survivors end up in shelters as they are forced to leave their homes. No one should have to experience this and no one should have to go through this. No one should have to live in pain and fear every day. Domestic violence can happen anywhere in the city.

We had an incident on the subway yesterday where a person attacked their loved one and two transit employees came to their aid, and those transit employees were slashed. We had an incident where a woman was pushed to the tracks and lost her legs because of domestic abuse. The full scope of this abuse is really the number of assaults and even homicides, you'll see a significant presence of domestic violence that's attached to it.

That's why today, we are giving domestic and gender-based violence survivors hope with Project Home, a pilot program to provide rapid housing assistance to domestic violence survivors with children living in shelters. We are going to help 100 families in this pilot, rebuild their lives, find safe permanent homes, and reduce the time they have to spend in shelter.

We are also announcing expanded eligibility for supportive and affordable housing for domestic violence survivors. For too long, bureaucratic rules have prevented survivors from applying for supportive and affordable housing that was set aside for families leaving city shelter, but we're putting an end to that and ensuring that survivors have even more permanent housing options available to them, allowing clients to apply directly to more units and shortening their stays in shelter.

Domestic and gender-based violence is a public safety problem that we need to not only address by ensuring those who are abusers are held accountable but not to continue the abuse by having a bureaucratic process that does not allow the destabilization that Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom was speaking about. Just in 2023, there were more than 245,000 domestic violence incident reports filed by the New York City Police Department. When you look at the number, you're talking about 700 acts a day.

Project Home and other housing eligibility expansion will be a lifeline for survivors, open the door to a safe home and future. We're going to need our partners to do that. Hats off, and just thank you to New Destiny Housing for partnering with us to get this done and telling us the best way to get it done because they're on the front line and they can help us be smarter as we execute these plans. I cannot say thank you enough to the entire team that's here. This is real work and you have to be committed to this work to get it right. When we provide housing and services to domestic violence survivors and their families, we create a better environment for our city.

Today's project home pilot is another commitment delivered from Women Forward NYC, something that our women deputy mayors and their team have put together and we are implementing on these projects more than $43 million in investments that addresses the needs of women in the five boroughs with an emphasis on women of color and LGBTQ+ community. This announcement also builds on the work we have already begun to tackle domestic and gender-based violence head-on.

I was proud to sign two bills in my first year in office that provided support for domestic and gender-based violence survivors and the Mayor's Office To End Domestic And Gender-Based Violence continues to do incredible work. I want to thank them for what they're doing by remaining on the ground. We cannot tolerate domestic violence in our city. We must lead from the front. New York City is going to make sure we send the right message that will cascade throughout the entire country. When we came into office two years ago, we were clear with our mission, public safety and this is part of that, revitalizing our economy and making the city more livable for every New Yorker.

It is not livable if our victims are living in fear. We will continue to be steadfast and fight against domestic violence and ensure that we can create the right environment. Thank you to everyone that's involved.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Thank you, mayor. I'm having so many thoughts but one is that it's a program enhancement but it's also a policy change. People say that we don't do enough policy work. We probably don't talk about it enough but how does it reflect our values and the New York that we want to see for New Yorkers in the future? Nicole, come on up, from New Destiny.

Branca: Good morning.

Mayor Adams: Good morning.

Branca: I'm Nicole Branca, I'm a very tall executive director for New Destiny Housing.

We work to end the cycle of abuse and homelessness for DV survivors and their families. We do this by connecting them to safe permanent affordable housing and services so that they can find safety and rebuild their lives. So this is a very big day for us. Every two minutes, the NYPD receives a report of domestic violence. That means that since this press conference began, eight people have reported being abused. It takes tremendous courage for a person to make this call and even more courage for them to leave their abuser. It's obviously fear of being found by their abuser, but it's also the fear of leaving everything behind, including their savings and all their belongings.

This is compounded by the extreme shortage of housing in this city, especially if you're in the homeless shelter system. If you're a DV survivor living in a very separate shelter system, even further hidden from you and with less resources. But that changes today. Thank you to Mayor Adams, Deputy Mayor, all the commissioners who are here and not here. This took a village to make happen, to bring these critical resources to domestic violence survivors.

As the mayor said, really listening to those who are doing this work on the ground. We have Daniris, Michelle, and Stephanie who are here today, who have all been very brave sharing their story, and this is a result of that. Our families need safe, supportive housing. Many of our families need just a light. They just need somebody to look out for them. They just need permanent affordable housing, but they also need supportive housing. We have been fighting for this for decades. So this is a very big moment.

There's been, and this is not often talked about, but a lot of our survivors struggle with the long-term physical and mental effects of abuse, and both them and the children who witness it, sadly sometimes experience it themselves. And so this is incredible to be able to offer this resource to our tenants moving forward. I also want to thank the Fund to End Youth and Family Homelessness and the Helmsley Charitable Trust for funding the pilot that we're here celebrating today. We would not be able to do this without our private sector partners.

They're seeding this program for the city, New Destiny to launch, and we are confident that this will provide a strategy for ending family homelessness in the long run. This deputy mayor/stage manager, I'm sensing, wants me to wrap up.

I'll just say that lastly, I want to thank my staff for hitting the pavement day after day, showing that this can, in fact, be done, finding apartments, not saying no, moving heaven and earth to get our tenants, our DV survivors housed. Then again, lastly, it has to be said, Daniris, Stephanie, and Michelle, thank you for not being afraid to tell your story and being our heroes.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: I'm not feeling like deputy mayor today. I'm feeling like Ms. Edna's youngest daughter. Very proud, very proud. Hopefully, she's not watching. She can't hear too well anyway. She'll be like, "You had on a nice dress, but what were you talking about?"

I say,"It doesn't matter, mommy." Daniris, come on up.

Daniris Espinal: Thank you. Good morning, everyone.

Mayor Adams: Morning.

Espinel: Morning. My name is Daniris Espinal. I'm a domestic violence survivor and a member of New Destiny Survivor Voices Project. I'm one of the survivors who were connected to New Destiny for housing search assistance. When things happened, I was committed to do everything possible for me and my kids to get a safe, permanent home. That's when I reached out to New Destiny. They helped me apply for an emergency housing voucher through ENDGBV, which came with the assistance of a housing navigator.

My navigator Tameka was compassionate, kind, and dedicated to helping our family find a new place to live. She helped me with the housing search, talked to landlords, and find a place to live in a neighborhood with good schools for my kids, which was really important to me. Eventually, we found a new apartment and everything started to change for the better. My abuse had left me with high anxiety and trauma [inaudible] for years, but finally having a place of my own allowed me to actually start healing and planning for the future.

The aftercare I received as part of the EHP voucher was pivotal to this and it's allowed me to rebuild my life, my identity with the support I needed to succeed. Now I'm absolutely thrilled to be standing here as we announce that aftercare and housing navigation, finally, these essential services that helped me so much through one of the most difficult points in my life would be available to even more survivors through Project Home. Every survivor deserves this opportunity.

It is what has allowed me to prove that I can be successful all while taking care of my children and my health. It is what has allowed my kids to thrive as they continue to grow up in a comfortable home. Thank you to the city, New Destiny and the private funders for making this pilot program possible. I'm excited to see the difference it can make for survivors currently living in the shelter system. Stable housing is not a privilege, it's a right, and with the right tools and the right resources, I know that every single New Yorker can have access to this most basic of human needs. Thank you so much.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Thank you. Goodness. Such a basic human right, right?

Espinel: Yes.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Yes. Thank you.

Espinel: Most foundational.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Most foundational thing that anyone can have. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. I'll take questions right now. Hopefully, none for me because I'm emotional, but we'll get the crew to answer some.

You've got to step up because I know- step right here.

Question: [Inaudible]micro-grant program for survivors of domestic violence, that I believe New Destiny has actually called the funds significantly more than is being funded. [Inaudible.] How does this play into that current program? Is it the same thing? Is the city going to fund it to the 6 million level?

Acting Commissioner Saloni Sethi, Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence: Yes. That micro-grant program is available to any survivor to remain safely housed and avoid shelter entry. It's slightly separate, right? That's about keeping people in their homes, so they can avoid shelter. I think we have to keep working on both ends. We're getting as many people out of shelter and housing and then those that are in housing, if they can stay in their housing and be safe, we want to keep them there.

Question: Okay, [inaudible.] What about these vouchers? Are you going to apply for migrant women because we know that migrant women are part of these victims?

Commissioner Molly Park, Department of Social Services: These are CityFHEPS vouchers. In order to qualify for CityFHEPS, you need to be public assistance eligible. That includes some of the recent asylum seekers, certainly not all of the recent asylum seekers. In addition, we're working very closely with the state, who has recently created some housing vouchers that are available irrespective of immigration status. We look forward to be able to serve a wider population going forward.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: The 100 families that are going to be in this are going to be picked randomly, right? Good, and then we'll do the evaluation that way. Good.

Question: On FHEPS, just a couple of things on this. One, so this is for supportive housing, right, just to-

Commissioner Park: We actually announced three different things today. One is the enhanced housing navigation services working with New Destiny. That is for families with CityFHEPS vouchers who are in the DHS shelter system. They can move anywhere, anywhere in the state actually with CityFHEPS. Then we also announced expanded eligibility for supportive housing and for HPD homeless set-asides, which may be coupled with CityFHEPS, but not necessarily.

Question: What are the criteria in the expanded eligibility?

Commissioner Park: In the past, it has been- eligibility for HPD units has been limited to those who are in DHS shelters. So that has excluded those in the HRA domestic violence shelter system. Now, families who are in HRA domestic violence system will be able to connect directly to the HPD homeless set-asides. For 15/15 Supportive Housing, we are expanding the pool of eligibility beyond the narrow focus on serious mental illness and substance use to also include those who've experienced the trauma of domestic violence.

Question: One last thing on FHEPS is knowing the council pushed for an expansion that's implemented in the law, where is that as far as the administration goes?

Commissioner Park: There's active litigation going on, so I'm not going to comment on that.

Question: What is the eligibility for the type of program for the 100 families?

Commissioner Park: We'll be identifying families in the DHS shelter system who have a domestic violence history that have been screened as meeting the state standard for- there's a specific state definition for domestic violence survivor. We will identify families who've been newly allocated a CityFHEPS voucher, and then we're going to have a randomized control.

So actually, another 100 families who meet the same definition so that we're actually able to do a really rigorous assessment of the effectiveness here so that we can demonstrate that this is something that we believe is worth investing in going forward.

Question: [Inaudible] that the 100 is random?

Commissioner Park: It will be households that meet the state definition of domestic violence survivor. Unfortunately, at any given moment, somewhere between 35 percent and 50 percent of the heads of household entering the DHS shelter system have a history of domestic violence, excluding the asylum seekers.

Question: This will be tens of thousands?

Commissioner Park: That is who's entering the system at any point in time. There is certainly a broader eligibility pool. This is a pilot program. We're going to be able to really test the effectiveness relative to the scope of services that are provided within the standard DHS shelter system. I absolutely believe it's something we can build on.

Question: To one of the survivors, if she could speak in Spanish, possibly, about her housing experience, what having those resources available to her now, especially the affordable housing component. Is that possible?

Moderator: We can try and find somebody afterwards.

Question: Okay.

Question: I'm just curious about the cost. I know that part of this was funded with a TD grant from the housing foundation, but is there any estimate of how much it would cost annually, and to get baseline of it? Or I guess what the financial plan is going forward if the pilot is deemed successful?

Commissioner Park: We are very grateful for a $300,000 grant from the New York City Fund to End Youth and Family Homelessness to support the housing navigation work. In addition, the city is paying for the CityFHEPS vouchers, and that cost there will vary depending on the size of the family and where they're moving.

Question: The $43 million in investment, who's it in combination with? With the city? With New Destiny? Where's the funding coming from?

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Oh, the $43 million was the money that we've put into the Woman Forward program. That's a bunch of different programs that we've done that we can get you that list for.

Question: I have a question on topic and off-topic as well.

That's [inaudible]. Hi. [Inaudible.] It's so nice to meet you, mayor. I have a question about parking garage inspections. As you know, the parking garage owners are required to hire engineers to inspect the property. We found that hundreds of owners are not following the rules. The deadline was last year and despite the $1,000 monthly fine, they're just not doing these inspections. What can the city do to encourage them to do these daily checks?

Mayor Adams: Normally, we talk about this on-topic or off-topic tomorrow, but you just were biting at the bit to ask this question, and it would break my heart that I wouldn't answer your question.

We need to get you to speak with Commissioner Oddo to find out exactly where we are on this so we can be specific. With Kayla and her newborn that's about to come, we'll make sure that we connect you today to find out exactly what that number is that you just shared with us. I'm not aware of that, but Commissioner Oddo will be able to answer that directly, okay? Yes?

Question: Do you have an idea of why there has been an uptick in domestic incidents?

Mayor Adams: I'm not sure. Maybe there's greater minds than mine-

Acting Commissioner Sethi: I think one thing that I always want to point out when we're talking about this is that we're still seeing the impacts of COVID, and I think that that really is playing a role here, where people were at home for years and couldn't always access the resources. We did our best to reach people virtually, but we weren't reaching everybody virtually. Families experienced economic hardship and other losses. I think all of that compounds, and I think it's really important to keep in mind as we're telling the story of what's happening over the past few years.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

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