Social Policy

The rent is too high! Rochester housing advocates rally for rent reforms

April 11, 2019. This article covered a demonstration highlighting local support for rent regulation by the Rochester Housing Coalition, members of the City-Wide Tenant Union, the Rochester Homeless Union, VOCAL-NY, House of Mercy, and St. Joseph's House of Hospitality participated in the event, which began at the Liberty Pole and ended at the former Hotel Cadillac, where numerous low-income tenants were evicted last year so building owners DHD Ventures could renovate the property. Legislation has been introduced in Albany that strengthen tenant protections  allow cities across the [...]

2024-12-18T12:24:40-05:00April 12th, 2019|FPI in the News, Housing|
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Automatic Voter Registration: Good for Democracy and Sound Fiscal Sense

February 11, 2019. New York is in many ways thought of as a progressive state, but in terms of the basic democratic function of voting we are far behind most of the country. In voter registration, for instance, New York ranks 46th out of 50 states in share of citizens over 18 years old who are registered to vote. Automatic Voter Registration is a solution being currently considered that would leave far fewer people behind. As with any new proposal, it is worth examining the [...]

2024-12-18T12:25:38-05:00February 11th, 2019|Blog, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy|
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Op-Ed: Protect Veterans’ Access to SNAP

November 9, 2018 Veterans Day reminds us of our duty to support Americans who have served our nation in uniform. It’s an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices they’ve made and to re-examine the ways we can help them when they return home and re-enter civilian life. As we support them, we can certainly all agree that no veteran should go hungry. Unfortunately, for too many veterans in New York and across the country, hunger remains a serious concern. That’s one of the reasons the [...]

2024-12-18T12:25:41-05:00November 13th, 2018|FPI in the News, Social Policy|
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Webinar: What New York’s Community Organizations Need To Know About Public Charge

Join FPI For A Webinar On: What New York's Community Organizations Need To Know About Public Charge Last month, the Department of Homeland Security publicized a proposed Public Charge rule that would punish immigrants going through official immigration processes and their families for applying for or receiving government benefits for which they are legally eligible. This would take away vital government assistance programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, and housing assistance from low-income immigrant families, including U.S. citizen children. Denying access to basic needs programs will [...]

2024-12-18T12:25:41-05:00November 9th, 2018|Blog, Social Policy|
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Press Release: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Helps Nearly 64,000 of New York’s Low-Income Veterans Put Food on Their Tables

November 9, 2018 MEDIA CONTACT Ron Deutsch, Executive Director of FPI 518.469.6769 | deutsch@fiscalpolicy.org Sherry Tomasky, Director of Public Affairs of Hunger Solutions New York 518.414.6769 | sherry.tomasky@hungersolutionsny.org PRESS RELEASE New York State Food Security Advocates Urge Congress to Protect Food Assistance for Veterans The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Helps Nearly 64,000 of New York’s Low-Income Veterans Put Food on Their Tables As the nation prepares to observe Veterans Day, Hunger Solutions New York and the Fiscal Policy Institute are calling on Congress to [...]

2024-12-18T12:25:42-05:00November 9th, 2018|Press Releases, Social Policy|
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FPI Supports Calls to Protect SNAP

June 14, 2018. FPI’s Policy Analyst, Shamier Settle and Chief Economist, Jonas Shaende joined the Poor People’s Campaign and Rise & Resist at their rally against potential cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The House Agriculture Committee farm bill (H.R. 2) outlines cuts and discontinuation of SNAP benefits (formerly known as food stamps) for a substantial number of low-income Americans. This proposal contains $20 billion in cuts to the SNAP program and provisions for expanded work requirements. There is little empirical evidence that such requirements [...]

2024-12-18T12:26:10-05:00June 15th, 2018|Blog, Social Policy|
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FPI Holds Webinar with Hunger Solutions New York About SNAP and the 2018 Farm Bill

May 8, 2018. The Fiscal Policy Institute and Hunger Solutions New York held a webinar regarding the 2018 Farm Bill and changes to SNAP on April 30, 2018. SNAP, otherwise known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, helps close the gap of food insecurity for people across New York and the rest of the country. The slides for the webinar are available here.

2024-12-18T12:26:12-05:00May 8th, 2018|Social Policy|
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Interactive Maps: SNAP Participation Rates and SNAP Retailers

May 7, 2018. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP for short, is the country's largest and most effective nutrition program. In New York State, over 2.8 million people utilize SNAP every year, including 1.1 million children. More than $4.9 billion in SNAP benefits were spent at over 18,000 New York retailers in 2016. SNAP is a part of the Farm Bill, a piece of legislation which authorizes most federal policies governing food and agriculture programs. Approximately 80 percent of the Farm Bill is SNAP funding [...]

2024-12-18T12:26:13-05:00May 7th, 2018|Blog, Social Policy|
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Rod Watson: Report Underscores Need to Mandate Affordable Housing

The analysis from the Fiscal Policy Institute, based on Census Bureau data, looks at affordability in the state’s six largest cities. It shows that 38 percent of Buffalo’s renters spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, with a quarter of the city’s renters spending more than 40 percent. The federal government sets 30 percent as the upper limit for housing that’s deemed "affordable," meaning more than a third of Buffalo’s residents can’t really afford the rental housing they are living in. That [...]

2024-12-18T12:26:13-05:00April 19th, 2018|FPI in the News, Housing, Social Policy|
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New York’s Rent Affordability Crisis Hits Families of Color the Hardest

The United States and New York are in the midst of an affordable housing crisis. Nearly 11 million American households pay over half of their income in rent despite the fact that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines “affordable housing” as housing costing below 30 percent of a family’s income for rent. If a family pays more than 30 percent of their income on rent, they are considered “rent burdened.” In New York State, the affordable housing crisis is particularly severe, especially [...]

2024-12-18T12:26:14-05:00April 11th, 2018|Blog, Fact Sheets, Housing, Social Policy|
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What’s Going On In Your District? The Fiscal Policy Institute’s Congressional District Fact Sheets Are Here!

February 16, 2018. The beginning of the Trump administration initiated a tremendous wave of attacks on government poverty alleviation programs and services like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). New York State has the highest income equality of all the fifty states with over 2.8 million people living in poverty. These programs and services provide immense relief for lower-income, working families and lift millions of children out of poverty. The Congressional District Fact Sheets (CDFS) contain information about the importance of poverty alleviation and [...]

2024-12-18T12:26:15-05:00February 16th, 2018|Fact Sheets, Social Policy|
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Groups Concerned about Healthcare Cuts

10/20/2017. Fiscal Policy Institutes Executive Director, Ron Deutsch, discusses how proposed federal budget cuts threaten healthcare. He and others rallied outside Glens Falls Hospital on Thursday to protest a possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare. “Congress has failed to renew funding for critical healthcare programs, which jeopardizes access to care for low- and middle-income residents and threatens hospitals across the state,” said Greenfield resident Ron Deutsch, Fiscal Policy Institute executive director." Access to full article Here    

2024-12-18T12:26:38-05:00October 24th, 2017|FPI in the News, Healthcare|
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The Push for So Called “Free College”

October 18, 2017. In a radio interview with Sarah Schweinsberg, David Dyssegaard Kallick, FPI's Deputy Director and Director of Immigration Research, discusses Governor Cuomo's Excelsior Scholarship Program. Governor Cuomo expresses that college is a necessity. While people have praised the program, some have expressed concerns. It has been referred to as a last dollar grant, only covering what state and federal grants do not. This mostly helps middle class students, who do not qualify for programs helping low income families. This does not help with the [...]

2024-12-18T12:26:38-05:00October 18th, 2017|Education, FPI in the News|
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Cassidy-Graham Bill Would Deeply Cut Health Coverage Funding for New York

For Immediate Release August 24, 2017                    Media Contact: Ron Deutsch, Executive Director, FPI 518-469-6769  Cassidy-Graham Bill Would Deeply Cut Health Coverage Funding for New York New York Faces Deepest Cuts of All States (Albany, NY)— A new Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal bill would cut New York’s federal funding by $22 billion for health coverage by 2026, according to a new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities based in Washington DC. New York would be the hardest-hit state, with an eye-popping estimated [...]

2024-12-18T12:26:39-05:00August 24th, 2017|Healthcare, Press Releases|
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New York’s Public Colleges: An Engine for Economic Mobility

August 23, 2017 Brent Kramer, PhD, Senior Economist kramer@fiscalpolicy.org   Public Colleges Lift Low-Income Students Into the Middle Class Investing in Public Colleges Essential to Boost Economic Mobility Earning a four-year college degree is now considered essential for achieving a “middle-class” lifestyle, even as many new graduates have trouble landing good, full-time jobs in a weak labor market. Despite the weak labor market, graduates still have better chances of finding good jobs than do their peers without degrees. The Fiscal Policy Institute examined the economic [...]

2024-12-18T12:26:39-05:00August 23rd, 2017|Education, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|
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