With around 100,000 New Yorkers dealing with homelessness, the chairs of the New York legislative housing committees have proposed a new tool in the fight to secure housing.

State Sen. Brian Kavanagh, chair of the Senate Housing, Construction and Community Development Committee, told Capital Tonight that his Housing Access Voucher Program is modeled after the federal Section 8 program that has experienced long wait times.

If passed, Kavanagh is asking the state to fund the program with $250 million. This money would provide New Yorkers that are homeless or facing housing instability with assistance to pay for their rent. The amount of aid that a person or family would receive would depend on their area’s median income, family size and the fair market rent in the area. If a person or family has no income, they would have their rent completely paid for. The assistance would wane as their income rises and would stop when their rent would not take up more than 30% of their income.

The bill was proposed last session but did not advance through committee. This time around, the bill sits in the finance committees of both houses.