Thousands of New Yorkers were at risk of losing their homes when federal funding for their rental vouchers began drying up this spring — years ahead of schedule. But now millions of federal dollars are coming to New York City to help keep those people housed.
More than $600 million in congressionally appropriated funds can now be used as rental assistance in the wake of expiring funding for Emergency Housing Vouchers, according to guidance sent out Wednesday by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
It’s so far unclear how much of the appropriation New York City will receive, but tenants, city officials and service providers are so far cautiously optimistic about the outlook for residents wracked by anxiety after the forthcoming funding drought.
“This is such a huge, huge relief, for the tenants and owners all around,” said Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference, which had been advocating for funding. “We’re delighted that there’s a solution, but we do need to see the additional details, and until we know every household is assisted we will stay on top of it.”
More than 16,000 households in New York City were staring down rents they couldn’t afford without their federal Emergency Housing Vouchers when the Trump administration earlier this year said it would stop funding the $5 billion program. That meant the rental assistance funding would run out before the year’s end, rather than in 2030, as expected.
Both the New York City Housing Authority and the city’s Housing Preservation and Development agency administered the Emergency Housing Vouchers in the boroughs, and had scrambled to make plans to keep their voucher-holders in their homes or secure new ones.
The new funds should help cover rent for households through 2027, though they’re subject to further appropriations beyond that.
“This is welcome news, and we are evaluating next steps to ensure long-term stability for these families,” said City Hall spokesperson Matt Rauschenbach in a statement.
‘Needless Pain’
The Emergency Housing Voucher program, created in 2021 during the COVID pandemic, was meant to help cover rent for some of the most vulnerable people, such as domestic violence survivors and youth aging out of foster care. About 70,000 households nationwide received the vouchers.
In New York City, the households that received Emergency Housing Vouchers had average incomes of about $18,000. They paid about a third of their income in rent, and the vouchers covered the rest — an average of about $1,900 per household per month.
In the wake of expiring funds, HPD and NYCHA made alternative options available for some voucher-holders, but none of it was guaranteed. NYCHA also initially had one plan that eventually fell through before pivoting to a different approach.
Because of the back-and-forth, voucher-holder Mason Crawford said he is unwilling to bet on his rental assistance continuing to pay for his Upper East Side apartment.
“For my own wellbeing, I have to operate like I need to move out,” said Crawford, 27. “They originally told us we would all get a new voucher and then they took that back.”
He applied to NYCHA for alternative housing in the spring but never heard back, he said.
Steph Rudolph, a staff attorney with The Legal Aid Society, described clients being thrown into chaos amid the uncertainty and rush to apply for other options.
“There was a lot of needless pain,” Rudolph said. “I had people threatening to self-evict because they didn’t want to lose their subsidy or go into debt.”
As of October, HPD moved 69 of its roughly 2,000 voucher-holders to its Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) program, and NYCHA moved 540 of its voucher-holders to other options, according to City Hall.
Now, those 609 households are not eligible for HUD’s newly funded voucher program. But the households who had applied for other options in the wake of expiring funds are. They will not have to undergo screening and can stay in their apartments.
One of them is Quiana Nichol, a 27-year-old whose Emergency Housing Voucher has kept her in her Elmhurst apartment for several years. Facing the possibility of losing the voucher, Nichol in August applied for an TBRA program that required extensive documentation, but was still waiting to hear back months later.
Now, knowing she will likely get an alternative voucher in place of the Emergency Housing Voucher, Nichol said she is encouraged, as she was expecting to go through a lengthy bureaucratic process to keep her apartment.
“I won’t be at ease until everything is said and done,” she said. “There’s so much to stay on top of … Patience is my best friend right now.”
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