The battle over CityFHEPS continues, with the City Council and Legal Aid Society filing an appeal on Tuesday in an attempt to force the Adams administration to enact a package of laws that would make the popular rental assistance program available to more New Yorkers amid the ongoing housing crisis.
The CityFHEPS expansion has long been a source of contention between the Council, which passed the measures last year, and Mayor Adams, who subsequently vetoed them, citing cost concerns; the Council then overrode the veto but the mayor still refused to implement the laws, prompting the Legal Aid Society to sue Adams in February on behalf of several low-income New Yorkers, litigation the Council joined.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank effectively blocked the expansion from moving ahead in August when he ruled that the Council overstepped its authority with the bills, deeming it a state matter.
“The City Council has a long and established track record of legislating on social services-related issues, and the lower court’s ruling is wrong on the law and simply ignores this history which stretches back decades,” Robert Desir, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society, said Tuesday.
“This enacted package of legislation would stem widespread homelessness and mounting evictions, and we’re committed to working with the City Council to ensure that these reforms live up to their true intended promise to help low-income New Yorkers achieve housing stability.”
Unless it is reversed on appeal the voucher expansion will remain unenforced, essentially in a state of limbo.
The Legal Aid suit represents four tenants at risk of homelessness who would be eligible for CityFHEPS if the expansion is allowed to take effect.
The bills at the center of the back-and-forth would increase the income eligibility for CityFHEPS, preclude the city from basing eligibility on employment status, include eligible households at risk of eviction and permit voucher holders to lease apartments for the full amount without first having to deduct utility costs.
Judge Frank’s decision to block the package was viewed as a victory for Adams at the time, but Tuesday’s appeal comes as the mayor and members of his inner circle are under pressure from sweeping federal corruption charges. Several of Adams’ top aides have departed and he is fielding growing calls to resign.
City Hall spokesperson Liz Garcia said that while 10,000 households are still trying to use their CityFHEPS vouchers to find permanent housing, the Adams administration has helped over 30,000 households exit shelter using CityFHEPS and other programs since taking office.
“We have been successful in this implementation thanks to improvements and investments we’ve made to CityFHEPS, including lifting the 90-day shelter rule, increasing staffing, and expanding eligibility and access,” Garcia said in a statement. “The trial court agreed with us that these laws went beyond the City Council’s legislative authority, and the Law Department will review the next steps. We remain committed to working to connect New Yorkers in need with safe, affordable, permanent housing.”
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