Several factors account for why so many hard-working New Yorkers struggle to hold onto their housing and need help from The Bridge Fund of New York City. These include temporary unemployment, uninsured illness, rising food prices, and the severe lack of affordable housing. In fact, during 1996- 2017 alone, more than 1.1 million rental units deemed affordable to low-income families were lost in New York City. It is not surprising, therefore, that the current vacancy rate is less than 1% and that a record number of people – more than 104,000 – slept in the municipal shelter system each night during 2024. Ironically, a significant number of them work.

Against this bleak background and pending cuts to federal benefits and programs, Bridge Fund case managers fight to keep as many needy and deserving clients as possible in their homes. During 2024, the program prevented 656 client households from becoming homeless. Of these, 142 received Bridge Fund services and emergency rent grants secured on their behalf from the Human Resources Administration (city welfare). The remaining 514 families, consisting ofl,250 individuals, including 348 children, were helped with Bridge Fund services and our financial assistance which averaged less than $1,660 per household. Through their loan repayments, former clients made it possible for the New York City program to financially assist 15 of
these 514 families.

Income Growth Initiative services were provided to over 200 of our poorest clients to ensure that they had the best chance of securing better-payingjobs and maintaining their long-term housing stability. Recipients oflncome Growth Initiative services reside in rent-stabilized apartments. Once lost, this type of housing is almost impossible to replace for low-income families and individuals, as landlords seek to relet vacant units to tenants with more income.

Based on past monitoring results, more than 90% of the 514 households that received a Bridge Fund loan or grant for payment ofrent during 2024 will be in their apartments one year after our initial intervention. This outcome represents significant savings over shelter placement, which, for one family, costs taxpayers more than $98,000 a year!