City Council, Homeless Services Providers and Advocates Call on Mayor to Sign All CityFHEPS Bills, Passed by Veto-Proof Majority, into Law

 

Bills provide solutions to record homelessness and worsening eviction crisis

In response to Mayor Adams’ executive order suspending the rule that requires individuals to stay in a homeless shelter for 90 consecutive days before qualifying for a CityFHEPS housing voucher, the New York City Council, homeless services providers and advocates called on the Mayor to sign all of the recently-passed Council bills into law. The four bills were passed by the Council on May 25 with votes of 41 to 7, far more than a veto-proof majority.

First heard in January, the bills were overwhelmingly approved by the Council after nearly one year of inaction by the Administration to eliminate the 90-day rule, despite first pledging to end it in June 2022. As the city continued to welcome tens of thousands of people seeking asylum in the U.S. throughout the past year, the Council continued to call for the Administration to eliminate the rule in statements, hearings, and reports, as a solution to better assist New Yorkers in transitioning out of the shelter system to permanent housing. 

According to data for the first four months of Fiscal Year 2023 in the most recent Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report, the average length of stay in shelter was 802 days for adult families, 485 days for families with children, and 441 days for single adults. The Mayor’s Housing Blueprint estimates that it cost the city nearly $8,773 per month to house a family of two in the shelter system in 2022. A CityFHEPS voucher for the same family would cost a maximum of $2,387, and likely less, resulting in a lower total annual expense.

At a time of record homelessness, the Administration has also left thousands of apartments vacant. It has failed to place homeless New Yorkers into over 2,000 vacant supportive housing apartments, while cutting funds from and understaffing the agencies responsible for making the placements. It has also cut funding from NYCHA to help fill vacant apartments, when over 6,500 remain empty and unavailable for tenants. Meanwhile, the Mayor’s administration has failed to intervene as the number of evictions has skyrocketed, surpassing 100,000 cases in the courts.

“Passing legislation to reform city policies that have blocked New Yorkers’ access to CityFHEPS housing vouchers was a critical and long overdue step to help people move out of shelters, find and maintain stable housing, and reduce homelessness,” said Speaker Adrienne Adams. “The 90-day rule is just one of several counterproductive barriers that the Administration failed to take action to eliminate, leaving too many New Yorkers stuck in shelters far longer than necessary. The efforts to transition people from homeless shelters to permanent housing have been inadequate, straining the City’s shelter capacity under additional pressures. While we welcome the Administration finally seeming to drop its opposition to end the 90-day rule, the Council’s legislation importantly codifies the change and provides a more comprehensive approach to remove other obstacles to housing vouchers that can help protect New Yorkers. The only reliable path forward to truly confront the city’s eviction and homelessness crises is for the Mayor to sign the entire package of legislation.”