Few New York City neighborhoods will be spared when a federal housing voucher program for low-income tenants runs out of money later this year, according to new data obtained by Gothamist that shows high concentrations of at-risk renters throughout the Bronx, Staten Island’s North Shore, Far Rockaway in Queens and Central Brooklyn.
The national Emergency Housing Voucher program was established during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 as vulnerable families faced possible eviction because they could not pay their rent.
It was expected to last a decade, but the Trump administration announced last year that funding for the $5 billion program was already nearly depleted, with no plans to replenish the coffers.
Now pressure is building on New York lawmakers to rescue renters in their districts who could be on the verge of homelessness as well as landlords who will feel the financial effects as subsidized rent payments suddenly stop.
The five boroughs are the nation’s single largest recipient under the Emergency Housing Voucher program. The New York City Housing Authority distributes the vouchers to more than 5,200 low-income households that use the money to rent privately owned apartments.
No section of the city is more threatened than the Bronx, according to city data. Nearly 2,500 Bronx households rely on the soon-to-expire vouchers.
More than 1,200 households use it in Brooklyn, and about 870 use it in Queens.
Spokespeople for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development did not answer questions about the impact of the program’s expiration or whether it was seeking additional money.
Calls for state funding
Tenant advocates, local leaders and even landlord groups are calling on New York state lawmakers to fund a replacement for the expiring subsidies as part of the upcoming state budget.
“This is a relatively discrete number of people and with state money we can solve this problem,” said Judith Goldiner, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society.
Legal Aid and other groups say the Trump administration and Congress are unlikely to issue new money to New York City and that the state’s own subsidy, known as the Housing Access Voucher Program, or HAVP, is a more realistic path to preventing homelessness.
The Assembly and Senate called for $250 million for the state voucher program in their budget proposals earlier this year — up from the $50 million allotted to the new program last year.
That money could stave off multiple overlapping problems, said Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, a Manhattan Democrat who chairs the housing committee.
Tenants with Emergency Housing Vouchers are some of the lowest-income renters in the city and can’t afford their apartments without aid. Rosenthal said some households will likely stay in their apartments long after the program expires, stripping landlord rental income and leading to lengthy eviction cases. And, in many cases, the city will end up paying more in shelter services, she said.
“Emergency Housing Vouchers are the end of the line for many people,” Rosenthal said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul
Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul
Gov. Kathy Hochul has continued to put the onus on Congress and its Republican majority to step in and salvage a program it created, rather than shift the burden to the state.
“The federal government should be supporting families, especially when it comes to maintaining access to safe and stable homes — not causing unnecessary hardship,” Hochul’s spokesperson Kassandra White said in a written statement. “New York’s Republican congressional members must push for funding in the federal budget to provide for these families while there is still time to act.”
Sean Campion, the director of housing and economic development at the Citizens Budget Commission, said the city and state are in a bind.
“It’s a difficult choice,” Campion said. “The city didn’t go into this with a transition plan when the federal funding ran out. It was a temporary program, even if it ran out earlier than expected.”
Congressional inaction
It isn’t apparent Congress will replenish the funding, however.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the lone Republican in the city’s congressional delegation, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Her district, which covers all of Staten Island and part of South Brooklyn, includes 225 households that use the subsidies to pay rent to their landlords, the analysis shows.
Rep. Ritchie Torres’ Bronx district includes the most voucher recipients by far, at nearly 1,500. He blamed the Trump administration for cutting the program well short of its expected timeline.
“We have to find a workable solution to transition these families by the end of the year to avoid catastrophe,” he said in a written statement.
The influential Senate and House minority leaders — Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries — both hail from Brooklyn. Neither of the two Democrats responded to questions. Jeffries’ district includes 587 voucher holders, the NYCHA data shows.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, is the ranking member of the committee that oversees the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and its assistance programs. In a written statement, Gillibrand said she has “continued to press HUD to issue tenant protection vouchers to these families.”
“We should be extending and expanding the rental subsidies — not leaving people out in the cold,” she said.
‘It’s giving us a chance’
The end of the program comes at a particularly difficult time for low-income New Yorkers.
The number of apartments priced below $1,500 a month decreased by 600,000 over the past 30 years, and only a minuscule number of units priced under $1,100 a month are available to rent, according to the city’s most recent housing survey.
Median rent for available apartments has risen to about $3,000 in the Bronx, according to an analysis by the real estate listing site StreetEasy. In Manhattan, it’s about $4,800.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Both are typically impossible sums for people who qualify for the vouchers to pay on their own — a problem Tania Erceg understands well.
Erceg, 45, works at a Brooklyn coffee shop and uses a voucher to rent an apartment in a two-family house in Maspeth. She said the assistance allowed her to exit a homeless shelter.
“It’s giving us a chance at a future where we don’t have to depend on a voucher,” she said. “I’m rebuilding my life with the support.”
But Erceg said she cannot afford the full $2,968-a-month rent on her current wages and hasn’t been able to find a higher-paying job. She said she and her 11-year-old son will likely become homeless if she doesn’t get some form of assistance, and she said she worries how he will be affected if they have to return to a homeless shelter.
“He’s doing very well in school,” Erceg said. “This is going to affect him, his emotional stability. We’ll lose a roof over our heads.”
‘We know exactly who these tenants are’
The Emergency Housing Voucher functions like the federal Section 8 program, with recipients qualifying for the assistance based on their low incomes. They typically spend 30% of their earnings on rent, while the subsidy covers the remainder.
New York City received more than 10% of the nationwide total of the emergency subsidies. City officials in 2021 prioritized some of the city’s most vulnerable residents who lacked access to other forms of aid, including families fleeing domestic violence, homeless young adults and frequent hospital users.
The Trump administration informed housing agencies across the country last March that the program was almost out of cash about five years earlier than expected.
That decision has left cities across the country including New York, scrambling to find alternatives. New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development received about 2,000 of the vouchers and last month announced a plan to provide two-year replacement subsidies to recipients — an option NYCHA said it cannot afford.
Landlord groups are also backing the push for more state aid.
“We know exactly who these tenants are and we should be working with tenants and owners to get them vouchers,” said Kenny Burgos, head of the rent-stabilized landlord lobbying group New York Apartment Association.
NYCHA has encouraged voucher recipients to apply for apartments in public housing, but officials say not everyone will get a new apartment or alternative rent subsidy. NYCHA spokesperson Michael Horgan said the authority welcomes any additional state aid.
“NYCHA is appreciative of any and all support from the states and other partners in identifying and potentially contributing to alternative housing assistance options for these individuals.” Horgan said.