Steve Stern is a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly from Long Island and chairs the Assembly Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Case
A state audit found New York spent only 36% of $3.3 million in recent veterans home-repair contracts as of October 2025 and blamed weak oversight and outreach. The housing agency says it has since changed its monitoring and reporting.
Role at the time: Assemblymember and chair of the Assembly Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Response to this claim
HCR's Office of Community Renewal did not effectively monitor local program administrators or direct outreach to counties with many disabled veterans, and that delayed home-repair funding for veterans with disabilities.
“our nation's heroes can't, and won't, utilize what they don't know about.”
He faults the state's publicity and administration of veterans programs, which bears on the outreach finding.
Statement dates: July 27, 2026
Statement dates: July 27, 2026
Statement dates: July 27, 2026
