Gabriela Sandoval Requena
Vice President of External Affairs
May 16, 2025

Thank you, NYC Council Deputy Speaker Ayala, Finance Committee Chair Brannan, Council Members, and Council Central Staff for the opportunity to submit written testimony on the executive budget for Fiscal Year 2026.

 

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 a Human Resources Administration (HRA) domestic violence emergency shelter to a permanent home, while more than half left for another shelter upon reaching the State-mandated limit of 180 days.

One in 4 survivors and their children had to move to the massive Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelter system. For survivors, entering the DHS system means losing the anonymity and the supportive services of the HRA domestic violence shelters. This not only represents a safety risk for them and their kids, but it also may mean an even longer shelter stay for survivors and increased costs for the city. On average, families with children stay in DHS shelter for over a year according to the Fiscal Year 2025 Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report.

With no certainty of when they might be able to find a safe home, 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 out 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 has issued a series of workforce reductions and proposed budget cuts 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. Furthermore, President Trump proposed a $33.6 billion cut to HUD and modifications to the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, including a 2-year time limit on assistance for able-bodied adults, in his Fiscal Year 2026 budget framework. If enacted, these changes will be devastating for thousands of survivors in our city.

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 Section 8 rental assistance program. 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.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

We thank the Council for supporting the mayor’s $46 million investment for the reallocation of NYC 15/15 unawarded scattered-site units to congregate. This will allow the development of much needed supportive housing for domestic violence survivors, and other vulnerable New Yorkers, across the five boroughs.

We are also grateful to Deputy Speaker Ayala and the Council for including $6 million for the Housing Stability Microgrants for domestic violence survivors in the Council’s Preliminary Budget Response. This program, overseen by the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, was finally implemented last year as part of the existing HOME+ initiative. However, the $1.2 million allocated in the budget has proven to be insufficient. We understand the funding has run out and survivors in need of flexible funding are being turned away.

Additionally, as the federal government continues to threaten vital housing programs for survivors, we need our city leaders to step up and protect New Yorkers impacted by domestic violence by:

Calling on members of the New York Delegation to expand – not cut – investments in HUD programs and ensure that NYC agencies plan for contingencies

We ask the City Council to urge our Members of Congress to allocate funding to HUD to renew all existing Section 8 contracts and funding to sustain all EHVs. Similarly, we ask the Council to ensure that HRA, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) are planning for contingencies to support any loss of EHVs, including increased funding for CityFHEPS and opposing the proposed income changes to the program.

Expediting NYCHA emergency transfers for domestic violence survivors

Under the Emergency Transfer Program, NYCHA allows tenants who are escaping domestic abuse, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, as well as other crime victims, to apply for an apartment transfer. The process is intended to protect at-risk public housing residents by providing them with confidential relocation quickly. Eligible tenants are placed on a waiting list and assigned a transfer priority status. The total number of residents approved for an emergency transfer dropped from 1,552 in Fiscal Year 2023 to 1,207 in Fiscal Year 2024. Since the City does not report the number of applications submitted, the drop in approved transfers does not necessarily indicate a decrease in demand.

At a City Council Committee on Public Housing hearing in March 2023, NYCHA testified that the agency had a total of 2,330 emergency transfers pending, of which 76%, or more than 1,770, were related to domestic violence. They reported that crime victims requesting emergency transfers must wait for a significant period of time for a new home. The agency has struggled to accommodate emergency transfers for years. According to a City Limits investigation, in July 2017, one of the 256 families on NYCHA’s emergency transfer waiting list had been waiting since March 2012 to move. The prolonged wait for a transfer forces survivors to choose between remaining in unsafe situations or entering the shelter system.

As Legal Services NYC’s eye-opening report: Trapped in Danger, exposed, NYCHA places emergency transfers in its lowest priority category, which results in domestic violence survivors waiting anywhere from one to three years, or more, for an emergency transfer. New York City must adhere to federal VAWA regulations and address the significant delays in NYCHA emergency transfers that put survivors’ lives in jeopardy. NYCHA must give emergency transfer requests a much higher priority. This is a budget neutral, administrative change.

Additionally, NYCHA must ensure timely completion of repairs of vacant units and assess alternative resources, such as available Section 8, for pending transfers waiting over 12 months, who are willing to relocate outside of public housing.

Thank you for your leadership and the opportunity to submit written testimony