{"id":97614,"date":"2026-01-12T19:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T19:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/97614\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T19:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T19:16:09","slug":"state-audit-faults-oversight-of-homeless-program-vouchers-amnewyork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/97614\/","title":{"rendered":"State audit faults oversight of homeless program vouchers \u2013 amNewYork"},"content":{"rendered":"

A New York State Comptroller audit of New York City\u2019s program to provide vouchers to help people in danger of eviction obtain housing found poor conditions, high rents and failure to qualify some seeking help.<\/p>\n

The audit by the state comptroller\u2019s office of the program that pays landlords rent subsidies for those at risk of homelessness said \u201cweak oversight and administrative lapses\u201d resulted in \u201crising costs and placing some vulnerable families in unsafe housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York City in 2018 created the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) program, overseen by the New York City Department of Social Services.<\/p>\n

Designed to help low-income New Yorkers avoid homelessness and find permanent housing, the program cost $834 million in fiscal 2025 and is projected to cost the City $1.2 billion in fiscal 2025, up from $176 million in 2019 as the number it serves increases.<\/p>\n

This has become increasingly important with more than 100,000 as of June 2025 sleeping in city shelters, thousands more in public spaces and 200,000 in others\u2019 homes, according to the audit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intent certainly is laudable,\u201d State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said. \u201cAs often happens with laudable programs, the implementation becomes key.\u201d<\/p>\n

DSS, in its response to the audit, said New York City, with a 1.4% apartment vacancy rate, relies on this program as one way to battle homelessness.\n<\/p>\n

Run through DSS\u2019s New York City Human Resources Administration and the New York City Department of Homeless Services, the program is currently helping 60,000 households pay for housing, including 14,000 placed in fiscal 2024, the largest number to date.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agency would not be able to assist hundreds of thousands of individuals in obtaining permanent housing if it did not establish proper oversight and monitoring controls,\u201d DSS said in its response.<\/p>\n

Auditors said they recognize the program\u2019s \u201crole in assisting clients with obtaining permanent housing,\u201d but \u201cimproved oversight and monitoring are needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>CityFHEPS expenses increased from $176 million to $834 million, as shown in Figure 1. In fiscal year 2025, the program\u2019s projected cost was $1.2 billion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe majority of people we looked at moved to an alternative apartment,\u201d said Deputy Comptroller Tina Kim, who conducted the audit. \u201cThe City has to approve the apartment and make sure it\u2019s habitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

DSS contracts with seven nonprofits to help those at risk of homelessness avoid entering shelters, find apartments and apply for rent subsidies.\n<\/p>\n

Auditors examined 75 out of 8,000 cases involving these nonprofits from January 2022 to May 2024 and $671 million in contracts.\n<\/p>\n

Auditors said they found unsafe apartments with housing-code violations such as mold, infestations (rats, mice and roaches) and defective window guards.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

They said renters can and sometimes do seek housing outside New York City, but that those inspections are done virtually, \u201craising doubts about the integrity of certifications.\u201d<\/p>\n

In at least one case, a resident was sent back to an apartment that someone had vacate, due to unsafe conditions that auditors said had not been remediated.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe audit also found landlords who continued to receive rent payments for uninhabitable apartments, increasing costs and forcing families to relocate,\u201d according to the Comptroller\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The audit found missing documentation and that 30 of 75 cases showed no evidence that income was verified.
\n\"\"<\/a>In 2024, of 4,201 approved Good Cause Transfer cases, 1,388 (33%) were due to unsuitable habitability conditions, as shown in Figure 2.\n<\/p>\n

DSS said they are using a software called \u201cCurRent\u201d that helps provide \u201cadditional oversight and monitoring controls.\u201d And they set up a Rental Assistance Integrity unit for quality control and to review clearance and eligibility.<\/p>\n

Auditors said there is still no \u201csystem to disqualify landlords with repeated building code violations or poor performance,\u201d including some on the Public Advocate\u2019s Worst Landlord Watchlist.<\/p>\n

\u201cRestricting voucher use to only pristine landlords would shrink an already microscopic pool of available units,\u201d DSS replied, noting the Worst Landlord Watchlist is not a \u201clegal enforcement tool,\u201d and each apartment must qualify.<\/p>\n

The audit also found improper payments such as fees to a broker affiliated with the landlord, when brokers must be independent to qualify for fees.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Auditors found a \u201cfailure to perform required rent reasonableness tests and approving rents exceeding comparable rates.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Rents were approved at above market by an average of $525 per month without documentation of required rent-reasonableness assessments, according to the audit.<\/p>\n

The auditors recommended strengthening oversight, extensive pre-clearance inspections of all apartments before approving subsidies, creating a list of disqualified landlords and verifying the income of renters to be sure that they qualify.<\/p>\n

DSS said they conduct \u201crobust pre-clearances and walkthrough processes\u201d and \u201cdespite many challenges, this program remains a vital tool for moving\u00a0 families into permanent housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agency said all programs require \u201ccontinuous improvements and course corrections,\u201d and they remain \u201ccommitted to such improvements.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping now that we have a new administration in the city, that they will embrace our recommendations,\u201d DiNapoli said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A New York State Comptroller audit of New York City\u2019s program to provide vouchers to help people in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[18551,4023,45138,45139,9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-97614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-audit","9":"tag-comptroller-thomas-dinapoli","10":"tag-homeless-program","11":"tag-homeless-vouchers","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-new-york-state","16":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","17":"tag-new-york-state-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97614","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=97614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}