Should every New Yorker be guaranteed housing? How would that look if proposed?

Most people can agree on the need: There are 92,000 homeless people in New York state, most of them in New York City.

They already have a guaranteed right to shelter, but now a new coalition is pushing to include money in next year’s state budget to guarantee permanent housing for each of them.

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“We really need the state to commit more resources to housing in the budget. Right now, our state’s budget is $180 billion, but only $600 million is set toward housing,” housing advocate Cea Weaver said. “So we really need to increase that number.”

The cost would be steep: $10 billion each year to ensure that every New Yorker has their basic housing needs met. To pay for it, lawmakers say they would need a new source of dedicated revenue, which they argue they can get from the wealthiest New Yorkers.

“Right now, multi-millionaires, people who earn more than a million dollars per year in New York state, their top tax rate is the same whether they earn $5 million per year or $500 million per year,” said Democratic State Sen. Julia Salazar of Brooklyn. “So I have legislation that would increase their top tax rate, an equitable progressive tax.”