Homelessness

Eric Adams touts homelessness progress as veto battle brews with the City Council

The mayor said his action to expand rental assistance has helped hundreds of families. Meanwhile, the City Council prepares for a veto override to expand assistance further.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams

New York City Mayor Eric Adams Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

New York City Mayor Eric Adams touted what he described as historic progress moving homeless New Yorkers into permanent housing Tuesday – even as an ongoing battle with the City Council over housing voucher eligibility went largely unmentioned.

Nearly a month after nixing a longstanding rule that required people to stay in the shelter system at least 90 days before they could become eligible for other city housing assistance, Adams said over 500 previously ineligible households are now able to receive rental assistance vouchers and are working with the Department of Social Services to get matched with permanent housing. He also pointed to broader successes like a 17% increase in shelter exits to permanent housing during fiscal year 2023. Those gains were made as the shelter population doubled in size with the arrival of tens of thousands of asylum-seekers. 

Of course there was an elephant in the room during the mayor and DSS Commissioner Molly Wasow Park’s announcement – one that went unmentioned until reporters pressed the mayor on it. The New York City Council had passed a package of legislation that went further than the mayor’s emergency rule change on housing relief. The Council voted to permanently eliminate the 90-day rule and expand eligibility for rental vouchers several weeks before Adams issued his emergency order. While both actions do away with the 90-day rule, the City Council’s approach also significantly expanded access to cityFHEPs (which stands for city fighting homelessness and eviction prevention supplement) vouchers, allowing anyone under a certain income level who is at risk of homelessness or eviction to qualify. Adams vetoed the council’s package on June 23, arguing that the bills would come at great cost to taxpayers and further complicate New Yorkers’ ability to find affordable housing. The City Council, having passed each of the bills with enough votes to override a mayoral veto, is gearing up for a vote to try and override the veto on Thursday. 

When questioned about that potential override vote, Adams said he’s had several conversations with the council where he’s tried to show them why their package “was problematic,” but he can’t speculate on what they’re going to do other than that his administration will take action after. He again claimed that the council’s package would create a situation where people living in shelters were having to compete with those behind on rent for the already “limited supply of housing.”

“I cannot overemphasize that we have people with cityFHEPs vouchers right now that are looking for places to live. The worst thing we can do is add more to that population,” Adams said. “Our call is to continue to put people in housing.”

In a statement released after Adams’ announcement, a spokesperson for the City Council said that while members are glad that the council and advocates’ efforts spurred city leaders to take action, the scale of the crisis “demands more meaningful solutions.”

“The council passed the most significant policy reforms to address homelessness within our city in years by improving access to CityFHEPS that can also proactively avoid evictions. The mayor’s argument that using vouchers to prevent evictions creates more competition for current voucher holders makes no sense,” City Council spokesperson Rendy Desamours said. “Every New Yorker kept in a current apartment subtracts from those entering the shelter system and searching for new apartments with vouchers. It is the mayor’s approach of forcing more people into shelters in order to be eligible for vouchers that will create more competition in a limited housing supply.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.