Posted on March 31, 2026 by Gresham Worth In an article published late March in The City, journalist Samantha Maldonado examines the reversal by New York City’s new mayor on a critical homelessness prevention program. Mayor Zohran Mamdani in March 2026 appealed a court ruling that requires the City to expand the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS), the City-funded housing voucher program that currently serves about 68,000 households. As a mayoral candidate, Mamdani had promised to implement the expanded voucher program in line with laws the City Council passed in 2023 to make more New Yorkers eligible for the program. His predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, did not implement those laws, prompting the Legal Aid Society to sue in state court, with the City Council joining that suit. The Adams administration triumphed, but an appellate court later reversed the decision. In the weeks immediately following his election, Mayor Mamdani publicly committed to ending the City’s court challenge to the expansion, but by his second month in office reneged on that commitment. Coalition for the Homeless Executive Director Dave Giffen released a statement saying “It’s dismaying to see Mayor Mamdani backtrack on his promise to expand the CityFHEPs program, which would enable more low-income New Yorkers to leave shelters and find permanent housing.” The laws passed in 2023 would expand CityFHEPS to include people sleeping in shelters who are not working and increase the income eligibility standards to include some households in shelters who are working but still not earning enough to afford rent. The law would also expand CityFHEPS eligibility to individuals and families facing eviction, before they enter the shelter system. This makes both moral and fiscal sense – keeping people housed is far more humane and cost-effective than relying on the emergency shelter system as New York City’s affordable housing of last resort. “We have so many families that go through the whole rigmarole of an eviction just to end up in shelter to wait, wait, wait, and end up in an apartment that is more expensive than the one that they were evicted from,” said Councilmember Pierina Sanchez, chair of the Council’s housing committee. The article introduces us to Juan Figueroa, a 57-year-old Bronx resident facing eviction after losing both his mother and sister. He owes more than $33,000 in rent arrears and can’t work due to health issues. Under the expanded program, he would likely be eligible for a CityFHEPS voucher that could keep him housed. Instead, he faces being locked out of his apartment. “He promised this thing,” Figueroa said of Mayor Mamdani. “The thing people need most help with is paying rent.” Mayor Mamdani’s purported justification for the appeal centers on cost. The program has grown from about $26 million in 2019 to almost $1.8 billion in 2025, and the expansion would undoubtedly increase the cost. But the program’s growth reflects its success, not its failure. Because of the lack of low-rent housing in the City, CityFHEPS is the primary way that homeless households are able to leave shelter and secure permanent housing. A recent report from WIN projected that the expanded program would save about $635 million on shelter costs over five years. The cost of a shelter bed for a single adult is $4,600 per month, compared to the standard monthly voucher payment of $2,646 for a studio. Not to mention that once someone is evicted, it becomes much harder for them to find a new affordable apartment. As Alison Wilkey, Director of Government Affairs and Strategic Campaigns for Coalition for the Homeless, testified at a recent Council budget hearing: “If we hadn’t had CityFHEPS, then we would have far more than 100,000 people in shelters at this moment. The City is left with a moral choice here of, do we invest in CityFHEPS to house people and make sure that our people, our residents have a home? Or do we leave people in homelessness?” Mr. Figueroa’s story illustrates exactly why the expansion is so critical. The current system requires that vulnerable New Yorkers must first lose their homes before they can access help. When the goal is to help New Yorkers avoid entering the shelter system, this approach clearly makes no sense. “The Mayor was elected on a promise to make New York City affordable for all, but continuing to oppose and obstruct the expansion of CityFHEPs will only hurt the lowest-income New Yorkers for whom these vouchers are often their only viable path to stable housing,” Dave Giffen said. Redmond Haskins, a spokesperson for Legal Aid, said in a statement that the city’s reasoning in its appeal was “unsound,” and that it was “regrettable that the Mamdani Administration has chosen to continue this litigation rather than focus on ensuring that vulnerable New Yorkers can access the housing support they urgently need.” He added: “While we are disappointed that the Administration filed its appeal, we remain committed to securing an outcome that best serves New Yorkers experiencing or on the brink of homelessness and who deserve the means to stay safely in their homes or secure long-term, affordable housing.” The real issue isn’t whether New York can afford to expand CityFHEPS – it’s whether we can afford not to. Without investment in rental assistance that helps people exit shelter and prevents homelessness before it happens, we condemn our most vulnerable neighbors to the trauma and instability of homelessness, at greater cost to both human dignity and the City budget. Giffen added in his statement, “Filing this appeal raises the question of whether the Mayor believes that homeless New Yorkers are part of his affordability agenda. New Yorkers facing eviction and homelessness cannot afford more delay or more litigation. It’s time to proceed with the expansion of CityFHEPs for the good of our city.” Read the whole article here.
