You won’t take our migrants, so here’s our homeless.
New York City is helping its homeless and low-income residents move upstate — after a slew of northern municipalities refused to take some of its asylum seekers.
The new plan rolled out by the city Tuesday will allow — for the first time — CityFHEPS housing-assistance vouchers to be used outside of the five boroughs where rents are cheaper and more living spaces are available.
The move comes after months of pleading by New York City Mayor Eric Adams for the rest of the state to take on some of the tens of thousands of migrants who have flooded into the city, leaving its shelter system in chaos.
He has even tried to get Gov. Kathy Hochul to force the issue, to no avail.
Now those areas could see the city’s homeless arrive in their towns instead with the change to the voucher program.
“We hope our partners across the state will greet these longtime New Yorkers with open arms and good job opportunities,” Adams said in a statement.
“These reforms will give longtime New Yorkers the ability to move out of our city’s shelter system to other parts of the state with more affordable housing options, while simultaneously opening up space in our city’s shelter system for the approximately 10,000 migrants who continue to arrive in the city seeking shelter month after month,” Hizzoner said.
New York City currently has a record number of people in its shelter system with more than 113,000 in the city’s care, nearly 60,000 of whom are asylum seekers, while it also deals with a longstanding housing crisis.
The city’s voucher program allows those accepted to pay 30% of their income toward their rent while the Big Apple covers the remainder.
The voucher change is expected to take effect next week.
“With this critical statewide expansion of housing opportunities for CityFHEPS voucher-holders, we will be able to honor their choice to pursue stable housing and job opportunities anywhere in New York State, while better aligning the city-funded rental assistance program with federal rental assistance standards,” said New York City Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly in a statement.
About 15,000 families landed in permanent housing thanks to the program in fiscal year 2023, which was an increase of about 18% from the year prior.
It was unclear how many in the city’s shelter system would be eligible for the program, but asylum seekers cannot receive the help.
The City Council moved to ease some restrictions on the program earlier this year, dropping the 90-day requirement for those in the shelter system to become eligible for a voucher.
The series of bills created a standoff between the council and Adams, who said the changes would cost $17 billion over the next five years.
But the council overrode Adams’ veto, making the changes law at the beginning of 2024.
“CityFHEPS is one of our most effective tools to keep people in their homes, prevent evictions, and transition people out of the shelter system into permanent housing,” said City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala in a joint statement Tuesday.
“This announcement to allow CityFHEPS to be used outside of New York City is a positive step that will help longtime New Yorkers find housing and economic stability,” the pols said.
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