February 23, 2026

RE: NYSCADV’s 2026 Advocacy Day

Greetings Legislators!

Are you aware that thousands of New Yorkers experience domestic violence (DV) every day. In fact, New York State continues to have the highest demand for DV services in the country. According to a national survey, on one day in New York in 2024, more than 10,000 adult and child victims of DV sought help from New York’s DV service providers. More troubling, 1,717 of these victims did not receive the help they requested due to a lack of resources and staff – a 64% increase in unmet demand from the year before.

Why aren’t these survivors getting the help they need? New York relies almost exclusively on federal funding to support DV services. The federal government has taken several steps to cut or limit this funding. Most recently, it sought to freeze New York’s TANF and Title XX grants. New York uses $91 million of these grants to support DV services every year. Now that funding is in jeopardy. We urge the Legislature to set aside in its one-house budget bills $10 million of state emergency reserves to ensure all licensed DV programs can continue to operate under these challenging circumstances. In addition, DV programs facing insurmountable losses to facilities (due to natural disasters, fires, floods or major mechanical failures) should be able to access this funding so they don’t have to obtain high interest-bearing loans to rebuild or close their doors.

Additional budget recommendations include:

1.     Increasing by $25 million the Governor’s earmark in the Aid to Localities (ATL) Budget
for OVS (page 1085) to address the federal VOCA shortfall;

2.     Strengthening New York’s safety net by ending competitive procurements for licensed
DV programs;

3.     Increasing the TANF set-aside for non-residential DV services by $6.5 million to meet demand and account for inflation increases over the last 25 years;

4.     Providing a 7.8% Targeted Inflationary Increase on the total value of all NYS contracts with OCFS-licensed, primary purpose DV programs; and,

5.     Enhancing shelter access for single adult survivors with the SAFE Shelter Act (A3264/ S7738).

More information about these requests is available on the accompanying documents. Please contact me at jgerhardt@nyscadv.org with questions.

Sincerely,

Joan Gerhardt

Director of Public Policy and Advocacy

NYSCADV’S FY’27 Budgetary Priorities

1)     Create $10 Million Emergency Contingency Fund to Stabilize DV Agencies Facing Federal Funding Freeze and Serious Fiscal Distress

More than 90% of the funding New York uses to support DV services comes from the federal government. Over the past year, the federal government has taken several steps to eliminate or significantly limit
the use of these funds. Most recently, New York was notified that its TANF and Title XX grants would
be frozen. Approximately $91 million of TANF and Title XX is used to support DV services each year.
The inability to use these funds to support emergency DV shelters and non-residential services would devastate DV programs, forcing many to close their doors. We ask the Legislature to earmark
$10 million of the state’s emergency reserves to ensure the continuity of DV services should TANF
and Title XX funding no longer be available in New York.

2)     Increase Victim Services Appropriation by $25 Million to Address Federal VOCA Shortfall

Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding is the largest funding stream supporting New York’s crime victim service providers, enabling thousands of New Yorkers to access shelter, housing, legal assistance, counseling and more. NYSCADV supports the Governor’s appropriation of $100 million to support this critical work. However, more is needed to ensure all DV survivors get the help they need. We ask the Legislature to increase the Governor’s appropriation for victim assistance providers by $25 million for a total of $125 million in the FY’27 budget.[1]

3)     Strengthen NY’s Safety Net by Ending Competitive Procurements for Licensed DV Programs

Most funding for DV services is awarded via competitive procurement, a process that causes significant upheaval and instability while pitting DV service providers against each other for funding. To ensure sector stability, we ask that the budget be modified to prohibit state agencies from issuing competitive procurements for DV funding. Based on precedential language that already appears in the budget for ESSHI and home visiting services, we propose this language be inserted in the budget anywhere funding is appropriated for DV services:

“For services and expenses related to the provision of domestic violence services, such funds are to be available pursuant to a plan prepared by [name of state agency] and approved by the director of the budget to continue or expand existing programs with existing OCFS-licensed and approved contractors that are satisfactorily performing as determined by [name of state agency], without any additional requirements that such contracts be subject to competitive bidding, a request for proposal process or other administrative procedures.”

4)     Increase TANF Set-Aside for Non-Residential DV Services by $6.5 Million to Meet Current Demand
In the last five years, the number of DV survivors seeking non-residential services has increased 63%. Yet the Executive Budget has maintained flat funding for non-residential programming for the past 26 years. NYSCADV urges the Legislature to increase this set-aside to $9.6 million to reflect increased demand for services and years of inflation.[2]

5)     Appropriate $3 Million for 7.8% Targeted Inflationary Increase (TII) on State DV Contracts:

For the fourth time since 2022, the Governor’s TII proposal excludes DV advocates, many of whom are women, people of color and/or LGBTQ+ who do not earn equitable, living wages. New York State must value the critical work of this dedicated workforce by providing a 7.8% increase on the total value of their state contracts, estimated to cost $3.5 million. This will ensure DV programs can increase staff wages and address inflationary increases related to benefits, maintenance, utilities, food, supplies, transportation and insurance.[3]

6)     Enhance Shelter Access for Single Adult Survivors with SAFE Shelter Act (A3264/S7738)
The SAFE (Securing Access to Fair & Equal) Shelter Act will expand access to life-saving DV shelter to significantly more single survivors without children, including trafficked survivors, LGBTQIA+ survivors and older adults. Due to New York’s per person, per night reimbursement model for funding DV shelters,
DV programs that place a single individual in a double occupancy room lose significant revenue for open beds. In fact, based on the maximum 180-day length of stay for survivors in shelter, a DV program stands to lose nearly $21,000 if they place a single adult in a double occupancy room. The SAFE Shelter Act will expand the collective capacity to shelter survivors without children by ensuring the state provides full reimbursement to a provider when a room intended to accommodate two individuals is used to house a single adult survivor.

NYSCADV also supports these Article VII Proposals in the PPGG Budget Bill:

1)     Part C: Criminal Penalties for Manufacture of Ghost Guns and Part

Ghost guns are designed to evade background checks, registration requirements and law enforcement tracing, making them particularly attractive to individuals prohibited from possessing firearms and to those engaged in criminal activity. Penalizing their manufacture closes a critical loophole in existing gun regulations. NYSCADV supports this proposal.

2)     Part E: Modifications to Sexual Offense Evidence Collection Kit (SOECK) Protocols

NYSCADV supports the Governor’s proposed modifications to SOECK protocols and supports creation
of a working group to make recommendations to improve and streamline the State’s tracking system of such materials. NYSCADV asks the Legislature to ensure NYSCADV, as the designated statewide DV coalition, and The Alliance, as the designated statewide sexual assault coalition, participate on such working group.

3)     Part H: Support Extension of Certain Criminal and Civil Orders of Protection

NYSCADV supports the Governor’s proposal to require courts to extend criminal and civil Temporary Orders of Protection (TOPs) until defendants or respondents subsequently appear. TOPs are issued based on a judicial finding that immediate protection is warranted. Allowing these orders to lapse solely because a defendant or respondent doesn’t appear undermines survivor safety and the integrity of the court process. Requiring courts to extend these orders reduces the risk of further harm and ensures that the court – not the defendant’s or respondent’s absence – controls when and how the underlying allegations are addressed.

Dated: February 10, 2026