Hoylman, Rosenthal Launch Change.Org Petition For Homeless Funding

Having the support of Miley Cyrus seems to help one’s cause.

Empire State Pride Agenda, the Coalition for Homeless Youth, state Sen. Brad Hoylman and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal will launch a petition on Change.org on Monday to urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other state legislative leaders to provide an additional funding for homeless youth funding in this year’s state budget.

“This petition will help raise awareness about homeless young people who are falling victim to sex trafficking because they’re turned away from overcrowded shelters more than 5,000 times a year,” state Sen. Brad Hoylman said in a statement. “A few more million dollars in the state budget for Runaway & Homeless Youth funding could create 1,000 new youth shelter beds and make a profound difference to the lives of these vulnerable kids all across the state."

Earlier this week, singer Miley Cyrus entered the New York State politics-sphere and wrote a letter to Cuomo and other leaders to ask for more funding on this issue.

Advocates and New York City elected officials are asking for an additional $3 million in the budget to alleviate overcrowding and create 1,000 new beds. As of Friday afternoon, the petition had 2 of the 100 petition signers they’re asking for.

Homeless advocates said funding for youth shelters in New York has decreased by $4 million since 2008 while the number of instances of kids turned away from youth shelters each year due to a lack of beds have increased from 570 to 5,000, annually.

“New York’s economy is healthier than it has been in years, yet the level of funding for shelters and services for our most vulnerable youth remains at recession levels,” Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director Nathan Schaefer said in a statement. “We must face this crisis by increasing Runaway and Homeless Youth funding by $3 million, a drop in the bucket in a $142 billion budget, but a world of a difference to the thousands of young people without a warm, safe bed at night.”

The petition can be found here.