Mayor Zohran Mamdani says his administration needs more time to expand a housing voucher program he championed on the campaign trail, citing New York City's looming budget shortfall.
The apparent reversal could affect thousands of New Yorkers struggling to find stable housing.
The City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement program, known as CityFHEPS, currently serves roughly 60,000 households, making it one of the largest locally funded housing assistance programs in the country. Mamdani campaigned on a promise to expand eligibility for the program and drop the city’s legal challenge to a 2023 City Council law that would broaden access to vouchers for people at risk of eviction and households with slightly higher incomes.
But Mamdani, at a press conference Wednesday on the city’s budget outlook, said his administration needs more time before moving forward.
“The prior administration mismanaged not only the budget, but also, frankly, housing and assistance programs,” he said, referring to former Mayor Eric Adams' City Hall. “Looking forward, we want to make sure that we balance New Yorkers' access to medium- and long-term housing, while also crafting a sustained and balanced budget.”
When asked whether a settlement would include expanding eligibility for more low-income New Yorkers, Mamdani replied, “Those conversations are ongoing.”
The comments mark a notable shift from his campaign platform, which pledged to “drop lawsuits against CityFHEPS and ensure expansion proceeds as scheduled and per City law.”
Campaign materials said the expanded housing programs would be funded through municipal bonds, city-owned land, and pooled rental assistance subsidies.
Homelessness advocates reacted cautiously to Mamdani’s remarks Wednesday, warning that waiting to act on the vouchers could have serious consequences.
“CityFHEPS has been central to addressing family homelessness and is the most effective tool to prevent families from entering shelter and to help families exit shelter,” said Christine Quinn, president and CEO of Win, the city's largest provider of shelter and supportive housing. “Delays in dropping the CityFHEPS lawsuit will be devastating for families in shelter and means higher costs for the city.”
Others said they remained hopeful Mamdani will ultimately follow through.
“We are confident we will see the Mamdani administration implement the CityFHEPS bill — or a version of the bill — as far as they are able to do so,” said Jeremy Saunders, coexecutive director of VOCAL-NY, a statewide membership organization focused on ending homelessness.
Saunders argued the funding impasse should be addressed at the state level, pointing to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s repeated statements that New York has a multibillion-dollar surplus available for housing.
“The CityFHEPS program was created because the state of New York, under Gov. Andrew Cuomo, would not fully fund the voucher program,” he said. “Gov. Hochul has to take responsibility for addressing homelessness from Brooklyn to Buffalo.”
Hochul's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
City officials have flagged the voucher program as a fiscal challenge in the year ahead. Comptroller Mark Levine recently called rental assistance one of several areas of “chronic underbudgeting” by then-Mayor Adams, including decisions Levine said helped create the shortfall Mamdani inherited.
CityFHEPS costs have surged in recent years as the city has issued more vouchers than ever to homeless New Yorkers. The program is projected to cost $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2025, up from just $176 million in 2019, according to an audit released by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
That audit concluded the program’s ballooning costs were driven in part by weak administrative oversight. Among the findings: Families placed in apartments with serious violations, landlords continuing to collect rent on uninhabitable units, and nearly half of the reviewed case files missing required eligibility documentation.
Auditors said stronger oversight could help curb unnecessary spending, but the report did not estimate how much total money the city could save.
The legal fight over CityFHEPS began under Adams, whose administration refused to implement the 2023 City Council expansion law, citing the potential for billions of dollars in additional spending. While some budget watchdogs echoed those concerns, supporters have argued that expanded vouchers would reduce costly shelter stays — ultimately saving the city money.
Mamdani on Wednesday blamed Adams more broadly for what he called a looming “fiscal crisis” caused by “bad governance” and “negligence.”
Adams pushed back, writing on X, “I didn't leave a 'budget hole.' I left over $8 BILLION in reserves. Only someone who can't read a balance sheet would call that a crisis.”
The former mayor added that every budget passed under his administration was approved by the City Council, including votes by “Mayor Mamdani’s City Council comrades.”
