STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6840 IN SENATE February 26, 2016 ___________ Introduced by Sen. ORTT -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Mental Health and Develop- mental Disabilities AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law and the state finance law, in relation to the housing opportunities for people to empower excellence and equity trust fund The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Legislative findings. Many adults with intellectual or 2 developmental disabilities have lived at home with family their entire 3 lives, which has resulted in substantial savings for the state of New 4 York over many years. In a growing number of cases, however, these indi- 5 viduals now live with aging family caregivers who can no longer effec- 6 tively provide care due to their own age related disabilities and these 7 individuals and their families remain on waiting lists for years at a 8 time, awaiting the opportunity to access an appropriate residential 9 opportunity. The legislature therefore finds that it is incumbent upon 10 the state of New York to address the needs of these aging caregivers and 11 their loved ones by identifying a source of funding to assist in meeting 12 the residential needs of these individuals. 13 § 2. The mental hygiene law is amended by adding a new section 41.56 14 to read as follows: 15 § 41.56 The housing opportunities for people to empower excellence and 16 equity trust fund. 17 (a) The housing opportunities for people to empower excellence and 18 equity, hereinafter referred to as the HOPE trust fund, established 19 pursuant to section ninety-nine-y of the state finance law, shall be 20 administered and overseen in accordance with these provisions with the 21 purpose of providing access to rental housing for persons with develop- 22 mental disabilities; to facilitate the construction, renovation and 23 rehabilitation of facilities to provide additional residential opportu- 24 nities for people with developmental disabilities; to develop new and 25 innovative approaches to residential living which bring people into the 26 community consistent with the goal of full integration of persons with EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD14021-01-6