Mayor breaks campaign promise to expand rental assistance voucher program
Homelessness Prevention Program Faces Delay as Mamdani Administration Backs Away From Campaign Commitment
The Mamdani administration is walking back a central campaign promise to expand the city’s housing voucher program, disappointing advocates who viewed the mayor as uniquely positioned to address the homelessness crisis. The City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement program, known as CityFHEPS, has been at the center of this debate. Mamdani pledged during his campaign to drop a legal challenge to a 2023 City Council expansion that would enable people with higher incomes and those facing eviction to access rental assistance. Instead of honoring that commitment, the administration announced it is pursuing a settlement in the case.
Understanding the CityFHEPS Program and Its Impact
CityFHEPS currently serves over 65,000 households, making it the second largest rental assistance program in the United States. The program allows recipients, typically people leaving city homeless shelters, to pay 30 percent of their income toward rent while vouchers cover the remainder. The program has proven effective in helping vulnerable New Yorkers transition from shelter to permanent housing. Under the existing program, families leaving shelters receive substantial help stabilizing their lives. A 2023 City Council expansion would have extended eligibility to additional New Yorkers, including working people facing eviction and others with higher incomes who still cannot afford market-rate rent.
The Budget Deficit Crisis and Program Expansion
Mamdani’s reversal comes as the city faces a staggering 7 billion dollar budget deficit in the first fiscal year of his administration. The expansion’s cost has become a point of contention. City Comptroller Mark Levine estimated that fully implementing the Council’s expansion could increase the deficit by 6 to 20 billion dollars over five years. This fiscal reality has forced the new administration to reconsider program expansion despite campaign promises. The city’s CityFHEPS budget exploded to 1.25 billion dollars last fiscal year, a five-fold increase since 2021. Many observers view this growth as evidence of both the program’s popularity and the scale of housing insecurity in New York.
What Housing Advocates Say About the Reversal
Adolfo Abreu, housing campaigns director at VOCAL-NY, expressed deep disappointment with Mamdani’s decision. Abreu stated that advocates were promised a “new era in City Hall” but instead see the administration replicating failures from previous administrations by failing to prioritize bold homelessness prevention. He emphasized that the expansion is crucial to preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place, rather than only helping those already in shelters. Christine Quinn, CEO of Women in Need, which operates homeless shelters for families, had been optimistic about Mamdani’s approach when City Limits spoke with her weeks earlier. She expressed disappointment upon learning of the mayor’s reversal and called on Mamdani to honor his promise by dropping the legal challenge and establishing a clear timeline for expansion. Women in Need released a report Thursday arguing that implementing the full expansion would actually save the city 635 million dollars by reducing expensive shelter placements.
The Legal Landscape and Settlement Possibilities
An appeals court previously ruled that the mayor must implement the expansion, a decision Mamdani publicly applauded when it was announced. The Adams administration had appealed the court’s decision, and it remains unclear what a settlement might look like or what cost structure would be involved. Edward Josephson, a lawyer for the Legal Aid Society working on the Council lawsuit, warned that Mamdani’s settlement approach will only lead to further delays while people facing eviction spiral into homelessness. Councilmember Crystal Hudson, member of the Council’s Progressive Caucus, expressed deep disappointment with what she called a reversal on a central campaign promise. Hudson emphasized that affordability was central to Mamdani’s platform and that expanding housing vouchers was one of the clearest ways to deliver on that promise.
Where the Crisis Stands Now
It remains uncertain what form a settlement would take or what this means for people who would have been eligible under the expansion. Housing advocates are pressing the administration to provide greater clarity on its plans. For information on housing advocacy and solutions, readers can visit VOCAL-NY for grassroots organizing perspectives. The Legal Aid Society provides information on housing rights and eviction prevention. More context on New York housing policy is available from City Limits.
