Please do not ban kratom it has saved my life along with numerous other people please don't force my hand and make me go back to the streets for pain relief from my amputation and other things that's wrong with me this stuff has helped me tremendously it is a lot of people tremendously even the FDA has said it safe please do not ban it sincerely alUnited States caring citizen...Dave Cates

I am writing on behalf of St. Joseph's Villa to express my support for HB1043. I have been working in the housing and homeless services field for 21 years and currently lead these services at SJV. The extensive delay in notification of the HTF awards has had in the past and continues to have a detrimental impact on the most vulnerable in our community. The deadline for the 2025 grants was Nov. 1, 2024. We submitted two applications this year, including an application for Permanent Supportive Housing. This grant funded a program that provided permanent housing for those with a disability and a history of chronic homelessness. Our existing grant expired on December 31, 2024. We were informed on March 5, 2025, that our funding for this program had been eliminated. This was devastating news, but the delay in notification made it even worse. Notification was over four months from when the application was submitted, and two and a half months after the program started. Because this is permanent supportive housing, we had made the responsible decision to continue to pay rents for these clients during this delay, as we did not want to be the reason these households returned to homelessness. After notification, we were required to work tirelessly to find new housing subsidies for these households so they did not return to homelessness. We were never reimbursed for this delay from DHCD, and our agency ended up paying over 20,000 for DHCD's delay in notification. This year's applications were due September 12, 2025. As of today (February 4th), we still do not have notification of our funding award. Like our PSH grant, this program's start date was 1/1/26. And also, like PSH, we have made the decision to "front" the funding to ensure clients receive the services they need, despite DHCD's delay in notification. HB 1043 would allow providers to make programmatic adjustments and plan appropriately for future services. It is unreasonable to expect those of us who are doing this work to continue to front funds to operate programs serving those experiencing homelessness. It is also important to note that the fiscal summary indicated that any state fiscal impact that may result from this bill to DHCD can be absorbed within existing resources.