The city of New York recently announced plans to build low-income housing that will benefit 5,000 New Yorkers who are on Medicaid and have significant health needs. The housing will be built in Manhattan, the Bronx, Long Island and other areas to provide supportive housing for low-income Medicaid residents.
Phase one includes the construction of 12 new buildings which will be built over the next year to year and a half. The cost of $47 million will be funded through Medicaid savings. Identifying these savings has been the task of work professionals from areas of the health care industry serving on Governor Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign Team.
The first building phase will provide 483 affordable housing units for more than 4,300 people. The remaining projects will follow, resulting in low-income units that will help a total of 5,000 New Yorkers.
The city believes the new project will help improve health care for low-income residents and reduce Medicaid costs at the same time. As state Health Commissioner Nirav R. Shah stated, "A critical component to improving the health of New Yorkers and containing health care costs is to ensure that an individual's housing needs are also met."
The effort sounds great, but is 5,000 people enough for a city the size of New York?
