§ 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.