Gina Cappuccitti
Senior Director of Housing Access and Stability Services
April 16, 2025
Thank you, New York City Council Committee on Governmental Operations, State & Federal Legislation Chair Restler, Committee on Finance Chair Brannan, Council Members, and Council Central Staff for convening this oversight hearing on preparing NYC for changes in federal funding, and for the opportunity to submit written testimony.
ABOUT NEW DESTINY
Founded in 1994, New Destiny’s mission is to end the cycle of domestic violence and homelessness for low-income families and individuals by developing and connecting them to safe, permanent, affordable housing and services.
New Destiny is the only organization in New York City solely dedicated to the solution of permanent housing for survivors of domestic violence. We are the largest provider of supportive housing for survivors in New York, and we operate the first federally funded rapid rehousing program for those impacted by domestic violence in our city (HousingLink).
We are also a co-convener of the Family Homelessness Coalition (FHC), a collective of mothers who have experienced homelessness and organizations committed to tackling housing insecurity among families in our city. New Destiny is also a member of the Supportive Housing Network of New York and the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND HOMELESSNESS
Domestic violence and homelessness are fundamentally connected. As New Destiny documented in its report: A Crisis Compounded: The Dual Crises of Domestic Violence and Homelessness, domestic violence is the leading cause of family homelessness in New York City, pushing more families into shelter than evictions.
Due to the lack of permanent housing options, which are compounded by the devastating long-lasting effects of abuse, survivors may linger in shelter for years. In 2023, only 9% of survivors moved from Human Resources Administration (HRA) domestic violence emergency shelter to a permanent home and more than half left for another shelter, reaching the State-mandated limit of 180 days. One in 4 survivors and their children had to move from HRA domestic violence emergency shelter to a Department of Homeless Services family shelter, where the average length of stay is over a year, according to the Fiscal Year 2025 Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report.
With no certainty of how long they’ll be homeless, survivors are forced to make the impossible choice between entering the shelter system or remaining in abusive situations, putting their lives at risk. In 2023, 1 of every 5 homicides were domestic violence homicides in New York City, where the victim was either an intimate partner or a family member.
FEDERAL FUNDING CUTS
The federal government removed information on essential funding opportunities from the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women in February, and it has also issued a series of workforce reductions to multiple agencies that provide critical services to survivors of domestic violence. Key branches in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have been decimated, which will interrupt functions and threaten lifesaving resources for survivors.
Since 2019, New Destiny has received HUD funding through the New York City Continuum of Care (CoC) to operate the first rapid rehousing program for domestic violence survivors in the five boroughs: HousingLink. This program provides housing navigation help, temporary rental assistance, and supportive services to promote long-term housing stability. In 2022, New Destiny added a second rapid rehousing program dedicated to survivors with housing vouchers, such as CityFHEPS, FHEPS, and Section 8. At any given time, we are supporting 300 domestic violence households across these two contracts.
Like the other 165 CoC programs in New York City, New Destiny’s rapid-rehousing programs are a lifeline for New Yorkers, including thousands of survivors. We are worried about HUD’s ability to properly manage these contracts when the job cuts go in effect next month, as well as the imminent threat of budgetary reductions. While funding for CoC programs has been appropriated already, the Trump administration has made attempts to make it difficult for nonprofits to access these funds.
New Destiny is also deeply concerned about the ending of the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program. EHVs are a form of Housing Choice Vouchers, more commonly known as Section 8. The program was created as a 10-year initiative in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to house 70,000 households nationwide, focusing on those in most dire need, like people living in the streets and survivors trying to flee an abusive relationship. Agencies across the country were notified in March that funding for the EHV program is ending this year. Close to 8,000 New Yorkers depend on this vital housing resource, including nearly 1,700 domestic violence survivors.
New Destiny was among the nonprofits selected to provide voluntary housing navigation to EHV recipients. In less than 2 years, we helped house over 700 domestic violence survivors with EHVs. New Destiny went a step further and secured private funding to make available aftercare to the survivors we placed. We know firsthand how vulnerable many of them are to return to homelessness or their abuser if they were to lose their voucher.
While we are pushing Congress to allocate funding to sustain the EHV program in 2026 and beyond, HPD, NYCHA, and DSS must plan for contingencies to ensure these New Yorkers remain stably housed.
This year, more than ever, we need our city leaders to step up and protect New Yorkers impacted by domestic violence by:
EXPANDING CITYFHEPS ELIGIBILITY
A shelter stay is often required to qualify for rental assistance programs, which effectively excludes survivors who are fleeing abuse and have never spent time in shelter. As it is the case for countless survivors without children, who are often members of the LGBTQIA+ community, trafficking survivors, and older adults, and often unable to access domestic violence emergency shelter. Expanding all voucher program eligibility to include survivors who are escaping an abusive situation and regardless of family size, as the federal EHV program did, is vital. This will help open a path EHV recipients to transition to the CityFHEPS program as needed.
We thank the Council for their leadership in passing the CityFHEPS legislative package in 2023, which scaled up the rental assistance program to include households at risk of eviction or experiencing homelessness, among other key enhancements. Such modification would expand access to CityFHEPS for survivors who are fleeing domestic violence. However, Mayor Adams refuses to implement the bills, and the case continues to be litigated in court.
The Adams administration must fully enact the CityFHEPS legislative package to ensure survivors fleeing abuse. For noncitizen New Yorkers or those in mixed-status households, where at least one member of the family is a U.S. citizen or eligible immigrant, it can be difficult – if not impossible – to access sufficient housing support. This includes countless immigrant survivors of domestic violence, who lack equitable access to housing resources and, as a result, tend to stay in shelter for longer.
INVESTING IN SUPPORTIVE HOUSING FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SURVIVORS: EXPAND NYC 15/15
Supportive housing is one of the safest and most cost-effective housing solutions for survivors of domestic violence. Federal funding cuts make investment in city-funded supportive housing even more critical now.
Abuse has long-lasting detrimental effects on the physical and psychological well-being of survivors. Survivors are 31% more likely to develop cardiovascular disease and 51% are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes compared to those who have not been impacted by domestic violence. At least half of survivors experience posttraumatic stress disorder and depression; moreover, survivors can sustain head trauma more often than football players, but they are rarely diagnosed. In fact, research shows that almost 75% of domestic violence incidents involve brain injury, and the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) now recognize intimate partner violence as a leading cause of traumatic brain injury.
Supportive housing provides survivors with a home they can afford and the support they need to heal and thrive. After years of tireless advocacy from New Destiny and partner organizations, in August 2024, the Adams administration included domestic violence survivors as an eligible population for New York City 15/15, the latest city-funded supportive housing program.
As of 2024, 100% of NYC 15/15 congregate units had already been allocated, which means that organizations like New Destiny cannot develop supportive housing for domestic violence survivors under this critical program.
As the Supportive Housing Network of NY recommends, we urge the city reallocate a portion of the remaining scattered site units to congregate.
Thank you for your leadership and the opportunity to submit written testimony. We are happy to answer your questions.