{"id":94989,"date":"2026-01-09T18:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T18:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/94989\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T18:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T18:17:08","slug":"nyc-housing-program-needs-more-oversight-after-price-tag-climbs-over-1b-n-y-comptroller-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/94989\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC housing program needs more oversight after price tag climbs over $1B, N.Y. comptroller says"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Runaway costs and a lack of accountability should lead to reforms of a New York City housing program meant to prevent homelessness, New York Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said Friday.<\/p>\n

A comptroller\u2019s audit<\/a> of the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) program found that poor administration is leading to rising costs that topped $1 billion in the most recent fiscal year.<\/p>\n

\u201cStronger oversight of the CityFHEPS program is critical to helping individuals and families access safe housing and stay in their communities,\u201d DiNapoli said. \u201cImproving how the program operates will better protect tenants and taxpayer dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city Department of Social Services administers CityFHEPS, working with seven anti-homelessness non-profit organizations across the five boroughs that help people at risk of homelessness sign up for the rental assistance program.<\/p>\n

A maze of income and housing requirements determines eligibility for the program, and individuals and families who qualify can use its rental assistance to help pay for permanent housing anywhere in the state.<\/p>\n

A December Advance\/SILive.com report<\/a> highlighted one local mom\u2019s struggles navigating the program due to the constant need to verify she met its qualifications. <\/p>\n

According to the Department of Social Services, the program has helped almost 124,000 people find permanent housing from its launch in 2018 under former Mayor Bill de Blasio through March 2025.<\/p>\n

Costs for the program have ballooned from $176 million in fiscal year 2019 to $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2025. The city\u2019s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.<\/p>\n

DiNapoli\u2019s office looked at the program\u2019s operation under former Mayor Eric Adams from January 2022 to May 2024, examining 75 of the program\u2019s cases and $671 million worth of its contracts across the seven non-profit providers.<\/p>\n

The comptroller\u2019s audit found that it wasn\u2019t clear everyone who used the program was qualified, and that some of the program participants were placed in substandard housing with hazardous conditions.<\/p>\n

In one case, CityFHEPS paid over $7,000 for a client to move into a roach- and mice-infested apartment for which the Department of Social Services had previously approved another client\u2019s removal. <\/p>\n

Department of Social Services Chief Accountability Officer Bedros Boodanian penned a letter in October to DiNapoli\u2019s office responding to a draft version of DiNapoli\u2019s audit, which followed a 2024 audit<\/a> that also recommended stronger program oversight.<\/p>\n

In his letter, Boodanian highlights some of the program\u2019s successes, including the people it helps receive housing in a city with a historically-low vacancy rate, as evidence of the department\u2019s oversight.<\/p>\n

He also disputes the comptroller\u2019s contention that people were placed in housing with hazardous conditions. Boodanian wrote that the apartments passed checks before clients moved in or did not have hazardous conditions at the time of the department\u2019s inspection.<\/p>\n

Boodanian closes his letter noting \u201cthat despite many challenges, CityFHEPS remains a vital tool for moving families into permanent housing. Administration of any social service program, including CityFHEPS, is an ever-evolving process, requiring continuous improvements and course corrections.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Runaway costs and a lack of accountability should lead to reforms of a New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-94989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}