New Yorkers Facing Eviction Need Support Now: VOA-GNY’s Statement on Mayor Mamdani’s Reversal on CityFHEPS Expansion Laws 

VOA-GNY urges Mayor Mamdani to fully implement the CityFHEPS expansion laws. The Mayor’s prior commitment to enact these reforms represented a vision of city government willing to take bold action to address our affordability crisis and help prevent homelessness before it starts. 

Passed by the City Council in 2023 and upheld by the courts in 2025, the CityFHEPS expansion laws would ensure households at risk of eviction can access rental subsidies without a prior stay in shelter and expand eligibility so more New Yorkers can remain stably housed. These reforms were enacted in response to rising evictions, levels of homelessness not seen since the Great Depression, and an overburdened shelter system, yet implementation has now been stalled across two mayoral administrations.  

As a provider of affordable housing and shelter services across New York City, VOA-GNY sees firsthand the cost of this inaction every day—both for our clients experiencing the trauma of displacement and for human service workers supporting people within an increasingly strained shelter system.  

While we recognize the need to balance the budget, failing to invest in prevention and rehousing will only drive higher shelter and crisis response costs in the long run. New York State can also do its part by adequately funding the HAVP statewide voucher program and revisiting cost-sharing formulas to cover its portion of the State’s constitutional right to shelter.  

We call on the Mayor to deliver on his commitment and immediately uphold and implement the CityFHEPS expansion laws so New Yorkers at risk of homelessness can access stability and relief without further delay.