Mayor Must Implement Council Laws Expanding Rental Vouchers, Appeals Court Rules

City Hall has so far refused to carry out the package of bills passed by the Council in which would expand CityFHEPS eligibility to any income eligible household at peril of eviction among other changes Housing advocates at a rally outside City Hall in to call for expanding CityFHEPS Gerardo Romo NYC Council Media Unit Mayor Eric Adams administration must implement a package of laws passed by the City Council to expand eligibility for the city s rental subsidy project an appeals court ruled Thursday overturning an earlier ruling that sided with City Hall in its refusal to carry out the changes A panel of judges in the Supreme Court of the State of New York s Appellate Division issued the latest ruling siding with lawmakers and the Legal Aid Society which had sued the Adams administration on behalf of New Yorkers who it says would be eligible for rental subsidies under the Council s expansion but have been unable to access the aid due to City Hall s stonewalling Nowadays s unanimous appellate decision is a critical moment for thousands of New Yorkers struggling with housing insecurity disclosed Robert Desir staff attorney in the Civil Law Amendment Unit at The Legal Aid Society in a comment Thursday At a time when affordability remains one of the the greater part pressing challenges in New York City this decision marks a crucial step toward a housing system that is accessible and fair for all function d u ac var s d createElement 'script' s type 'text javascript' s src 'https a omappapi com app js api min js' s async true s dataset user u s dataset campaign ac d getElementsByTagName 'head' appendChild s document 'u kmqsczew vunxutxmd' Mayor Adams had initially vetoed the package of bills when the Council first passed them in saying expanding eligibility for the City Family Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement campaign or CityFHEPS would be too costly and would increase competition for existing voucher holders trying to find apartments The Council then overrode his veto But City Hall still refused to carry out the laws one of which would increase the income eligibility threshold for CityFHEPS from percent of the poverty line to percent of area median income equal to a year for a four-person household Another piece of the decree would extend eligibility to any income eligible household at menace of eviction demonstrated with a rent demand letter even if the tenant does not yet to have an eviction incident in court A spokesperson for the mayor s office explained that the administration is now reviewing its legal options The Adams administration has utilized CityFHEPS more than any prior administration helping an unprecedented number of New Yorkers obtain permanent housing last year First Deputy Press Secretary Liz Garcia announced in a announcement But households are still trying to use their CityFHEPS vouchers to find permanent housing and we must focus on them Adding more vouchers will only make it harder for people to leave homeless shelters Gracia added The affordable-housing predicament won t be solved by making people compete for nonexistent housing it will be solved by building more housing which the Adams administration has done at record levels and authentically connecting people who already have vouchers to homes The administration had argued in court that New York State s Social Services Law precludes city lawmakers from legislating on citizens assistance reforms But the appeals court disagreed in its ruling Thursday We conclude that the City Council was not preempted from legislating in the field of rental assistance Justice John R Higgitt wrote In fact the City Council has countless times exercised its legislative power in the social services realm The court ordered Adams administration to present the package of expansion laws to the State s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance OTDA for approval what the Legal Aid Society called the first step in making the expanded subsidies a reality for vulnerable New Yorkers This is a evolving story Check back soon for updates The post Mayor Must Implement Council Laws Expanding Rental Vouchers Appeals Court Rules appeared first on City Limits