63 – Legislative Findings and Declaration.

§  63.  Legislative  findings  and declaration. The legislature hereby
  finds and declares that many homeless families live in  overcrowded  and
  often  dilapidated  welfare  hotels  in  cities with a population of one
  million or more; that welfare hotel placements  are  expensive  and  yet
  offer only minimal shelter services; and that while the state and cities
  with  a  population of one million or more must continue to develop cost
  effective alternatives to welfare hotels, ultimately  permanent  housing
  is  the  only  real  answer to the homeless problem. It is further found
  that absent development of more permanent housing, lengths  of  stay  in
  temporary  shelters will continue to increase forcing an even more rapid
  escalation in the welfare hotel population and the concomitant growth in
  total state emergency shelter spending.
The legislature further finds that the New York  state  infrastructure
  trust  fund  provides a unique opportunity to increase permanent housing
  for homeless families. The legislature therefore finds  that  the  state
  should  dedicate  New York state infrastructure trust fund moneys to the
  creation of permanent housing for families in cities with  a  population
  of one million or more who are homeless or at risk of being homeless and
  primarily  for families referred from hotels, motels or tier II shelters
  for families; that such state funds shall be matched by an equal  amount
  of  city  funding  and  that  the  city  of  New York in the most recent
  homeless families plan submitted to the council of the city of New  York
  by   the   human   resources  administration  has  proposed  to  provide
  eighty-five million dollars for such  funding;  that  permanent  housing
  projects  shall  be  constructed  or rehabilitated and sites selected in
  accordance with a homeless families plan.
The legislature further finds that the key elements of  such  projects
  shall  be:  identification by the city of proposed project sites; review
  by an advisory board of the sites proposed  by  the  city  in  order  to
  identify  those  buildings  and  properties  that  can  be expeditiously
  developed and produce the maximum number of units at the lowest cost per
  unit; approval of recommended  sites  by  the  city;  administration  of
  construction  or rehabilitation activities by the New York state housing
  finance agency; and selection of a developer or  developers  to  design,
  construct  or  rehabilitate  permanent  housing  projects  for  homeless
  families.