Back To News

City & State: Facing potential cuts while tackling New York’s affordable housing crisis

  1. June 16, 2025
  2. Advocacy

While 1 in 5 of the nation’s homeless individuals currently live in New York, shelter providers and nonprofits continue to be targeted by federal budget cuts and unexpected searches by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials – discouraging those in need from seeking help.

According to Project Renewal, one of New York City’s veteran social services nonprofits, these federal changes are cornering supportive housing providers, threatening both employees and patients. In order to weather this unpredictability, nonprofits are strengthening coalitions to protect the sector at large.

For 58 years, Project Renewal has provided shelter and substance use treatment to over 100,000 people, helping build pipelines toward stable livelihoods through its comprehensive housing, employment and medical service model. Of the 900 Project Renewal employees, 130 are current graduates of the nonprofit’s services, imbuing their lived experience to strengthen its suite of programs. As members of the communities they serve, many providers have reported an increase in encounters with ICE officials.

Eric Rosenbaum, president and CEO of Project Renewal spoke to City & State’s New York Nonprofit Media on how the organization plans to regroup amid potential federal cuts, is building coalitions and how it is confronting the fears that have arisen from ICE’s enforcement.

Read the full interview.