Housing vouchers in New York City are government-funded rental assistance programs designed to help low-income households secure and maintain stable housing. This page covers CBC’s work on CityFHEPS program costs, budget transparency and underbudgeting, fiscal sustainability, voucher eligibility, and the intersection of local rental assistance with federal housing programs.
This page was created with AICBC Insights uses AI to group, analyze and present data and recommendations from CBC's publications. Always reference the cited sources to verify important details..
Capping the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) program at the current number of vouchers would save $330 million in fiscal year 2027 budget and $3.0 billion over the five-year financial plan, without taking away vouchers from current recipients.
The City should certainly not pursue an unaffordable expansion that would explode costs even higher.
Turnover among current beneficiaries would allow the City to issue vouchers to some new households each year; priority should be given to those with the greatest need.
The housing crisis can only be solved by leveraging State and federal housing subsidy programs and partnering with the private sector to increase housing production.
The City would need to offset CityFHEPS funding by restraining other low impact spending.
Key Data
In June 2026, the CBC noted that the City's executive budget corrected $1.6 billion in underbudgeting for City-funded FHEPS housing vouchers to present a more realistic spending picture.
In March 2026, the CBC reported that the cost of the CityFHEPS program had tripled in three years, rising from $499 million in fiscal year 2023 to a projected $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2026.
Between October 2024 and October 2025, the number of active CityFHEPS vouchers grew 30.5% to 64,439, while the average monthly subsidy per voucher rose 13.2% from $1,743 to $1,973.
As of April 2025, $2.7 billion in federal funds supported more than 133,000 housing vouchers across New York City, including nearly $2 billion for NYCHA's Section 8 program and $703 million for HPD's Section 8 program.
In February 2025, the CBC highlighted that CityFHEPS vouchers cost the City an average of $20,000 per household per year and will cost $1.8 billion more than shelter over five years for the 52,000 voucher holders.
The CityFHEPS housing voucher program is projected to grow by 15 percent annually, making it unsustainable without significant cost reductions in other areas. To ensure fiscal sustainability, the City must manage the program's growth and avoid treating the expansion as an entitlement.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
Ensuring the housing voucher expansion is not an entitlement is important for fiscal sustainability.
The City must take steps to manage CityFHEPS’ growth or it will continue to be a budget buster.
Key Data
15 percent
— Projected annual increase of the CityFHEPS housing voucher program.
New York City's budget includes a $1.6 billion correction for underbudgeted City-funded FHEPS housing vouchers, reflecting a more realistic view of spending obligations. However, the program faces sustainability challenges, with projected annual growth of 15 percent, necessitating further actions to control costs.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
Implement additional actions to reduce costs in CityFHEPS housing vouchers, due process (Carter) cases, and other fast-growing areas.
Key Data
$1.6 billion
— The amount of underbudgeting corrected for City-funded FHEPS housing vouchers.
15 percent
— The projected annual growth rate for CityFHEPS, which is considered unsustainable.
The CityFHEPS rental housing voucher program has seen costs triple in three years to a projected $1.7 billion, with the preliminary budget adding $9.5 billion to cover current and future voucher growth. To ensure fiscal sustainability, the City should cap the number of vouchers at current levels, which would save $330 million in fiscal year 2027 and $3.0 billion over the five-year financial plan.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
Capping the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) program at the current number of vouchers would save $330 million in fiscal year 2027 budget and $3.0 billion over the five-year financial plan, without taking away vouchers from current recipients.
The City should certainly not pursue an unaffordable expansion that would explode costs even higher.
Turnover among current beneficiaries would allow the City to issue vouchers to some new households each year; priority should be given to those with the greatest need.
The housing crisis can only be solved by leveraging State and federal housing subsidy programs and partnering with the private sector to increase housing production.
The City would need to offset CityFHEPS funding by restraining other low impact spending.
Key Data
$330 million
— Savings in the fiscal year 2027 budget from capping the number of CityFHEPS vouchers.
$3.0 billion
— Savings over the five-year financial plan from capping the number of CityFHEPS vouchers.
$1.7 billion
— Projected cost of the CityFHEPS program for the current year.
$9.5 billion
— Additional funding added in the preliminary budget for CityFHEPS over five years.
64,439
— Number of households with CityFHEPS vouchers as of October 2025.
$2.2 billion
— Projected cost of the CityFHEPS program for the next fiscal year.
The city's budget includes significant spending on housing vouchers, and officials should focus on managing the growth of the FHEPS program to ensure fiscal sustainability. By maintaining the current number of vouchers, the city could potentially save $330 million annually.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
The City should right-size spending in areas where demand has changed, such as managing the growth of the FHEPS housing voucher program.
The City should preserve the number of CityFHEPS housing vouchers at its current level, which could save about $330 million per year.
Key Data
$330 million
— Potential annual savings from preserving the number of CityFHEPS housing vouchers at its current level.
New York City's budget is strained by chronic underfunding of essential services, including rental assistance programs which are currently underbudgeted by hundreds of millions of dollars. To ensure fiscal stability, the city must stop this practice of underbudgeting and accurately reflect the full costs of these critical services in its financial planning.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
The City should stop underbudgeting and ensure the preliminary budget reflects the full cost of expected services and activities, including rental assistance.
The City should improve administrative efficiency to fill affordable housing units faster, as it currently takes nearly 5 months to fill a single unit.
Key Data
$692 million
— The estimated amount of underbudgeting for rental assistance in the fiscal year 2027 budget.
5 months
— The time it took to fill an affordable housing lottery unit in fiscal year 2025.
The CityFHEPS housing voucher program, which cost $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2025, is a central point of debate among mayoral candidates regarding its future expansion or reform. Candidates hold divergent views on whether to expand the program to increase access or to hold it steady while implementing stricter oversight and accountability measures.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
Michael Blake will replace the Area Median Income (AMI) formula with Local Median Income (LMI) to define affordability based on real New York wages and raise income thresholds for housing eligibility.
Andrew Cuomo argues that New York State must also do its fair share by expanding the HVAP program.
Brad Lander will fight to direct new New York State HAVP funding to CityFHEPS.
Jessica Ramos states that the city must expand access and increase voucher amounts to meet reality.
Curtis Sliwa asserts that the program needs oversight, checks against abuse, and a greater focus on opportunity.
Scott Stringer maintains that the city must ensure real accountability and effectiveness for the program.
Jim Walden states that his goal would be to wean the city off vouchers altogether.
Key Data
$1.2 Billion
— Cost of the CityFHEPS housing voucher program in fiscal year 2025.
To improve housing affordability, the city should prioritize evidence-based programs and streamline development processes. This approach includes modernizing building codes and targeting housing vouchers to ensure resources are used effectively.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
The next mayor should supercharge housing production and affordability by streamlining approvals, modernizing codes, and targeting housing vouchers.
The next mayor should focus on what works by prioritizing evidence-based programs in housing and homelessness.
Federal budget cuts threaten the $2 Billion in annual funding that supports over 96,000 housing vouchers administered by the New York City Housing Authority. Protecting these essential services requires proactive fiscal management to ensure the city can maintain support for vulnerable residents despite potential reductions in federal aid.
Key Data
$2 Billion
— Annual federal funding that supports more than 96,000 housing vouchers administered by the New York City Housing Authority.
96,000
— Number of housing vouchers administered by the New York City Housing Authority that are funded by $2 Billion in federal dollars.
Federal funding supports a significant portion of New York City's housing assistance, with $2.7 billion in federal aid currently backing over 133,000 housing vouchers across the city. Any reduction in these federal resources threatens the stability of these programs, which include the nation's largest Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program and additional local initiatives serving tens of thousands of households.
Key Data
$2.7 billion
— federal funds that supported more than 133,000 housing vouchers across NYCHA and the City
$2 billion
— federal funds received by NYCHA's Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program to pay rental subsidies for over 96,000 units in 2024
$703 million
— federal funding expected by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Section 8 program to provide housing vouchers to over 37,000 households
New York City's budget is increasingly precarious due to rapid spending growth in programs like the CityFHEPS housing voucher program, which contributes to significant underbudgeting and widening outyear budget gaps. The City faces a $3.6 billion shortfall in the fiscal year 2026 preliminary budget, necessitating immediate policy changes to address these unsustainable financial trends.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
The City should end the budget gimmickry and present accurate, reasonable estimates of expenses and revenue, as required by the City Charter, in the Fiscal Year 2026 Executive Budget.
The City should implement a Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG) to reduce spending growth by streamlining administrative operations, increasing program efficiency, and scaling back or eliminating programs that deliver the least value to residents.
The City should not fund any new or expanded programs in the Executive Budget or during adoption.
The City should add at least $1.0 billion in funding to the fiscal year 2026 General Reserve to help respond to potential federal cuts.
Key Data
$515.0 million
— The amount by which the CityFHEPS housing voucher program is underbudgeted annually for fiscal years 2026 to 2029.
$4.0 billion
— The minimum amount by which the City's budget is underbudgeted annually for fiscal years 2026 to 2029, which includes costs for CityFHEPS housing vouchers.
New York City's CityFHEPS rental voucher program has grown to cost over $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2025, yet it has not reduced the number of individuals in shelters and is significantly more expensive than shelter costs over the long term. To address these fiscal challenges, the city must develop a sustainable, multi-pronged affordable housing strategy and better target voucher distribution to those who will benefit most.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
The City should maximize the impact of CityFHEPS by targeting vouchers to households who will see the most benefits.
The City will need to make decisions about the level of CityFHEPS spending that is appropriate and sustainable as part of a multi-pronged affordable housing strategy.
Key Data
$1.1 billion
— Cost of serving the 52,000 existing CityFHEPS voucher holders in fiscal year 2025.
$519 million
— The fiscal year 2026 CityFHEPS budget, which is 52% less than the current year.
52,000
— Number of existing CityFHEPS voucher holders at the end of 2024.
$20,000
— Average cost per household per year for CityFHEPS vouchers.
15 months
— The average shelter stay duration.
$1.8 billion
— The amount more CityFHEPS will cost than shelter over five years for the current 52,000 voucher holders.
Expanding eligibility for the CityFHEPS housing voucher program is projected to increase city budget gaps to $11.5 billion in fiscal year 2026 and $16.0 billion by fiscal year 2028. Additionally, the Shelter to Housing Action Plan received only $10 million in funding for fiscal year 2025, highlighting the fiscal challenges associated with these programs.
Key Data
$11.5 billion
— Projected budget gap in fiscal year 2026 if the eligibility expansion for the CityFHEPS housing voucher program is implemented.
$16.0 billion
— Projected budget gap in fiscal year 2028 if the eligibility expansion for the CityFHEPS housing voucher program is implemented.
$10 million
— Funding allocated only for fiscal year 2025 for the Shelter to Housing Action Plan.
The New York City fiscal year 2025 budget agreement lacks sufficient transparency and accuracy, creating significant fiscal risks for critical programs. There is a concern that the long-term budget may fail to adequately fund essential services like housing vouchers, class size reduction, and overtime.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
The Administration and City Council should join forces to become much more transparent and accurate to ensure the long-run budget is not short money for housing vouchers.
All programs, including housing vouchers, should be budgeted at expected service levels and costs.
New York City's budget significantly understates the costs of planned services, including approximately $200 million for FHEPS housing vouchers that appear to fall off a cliff in future years. Realistic budget estimates are necessary to avoid future fiscal gaps and ensure that critical programs are properly funded without relying on unsustainable spending practices.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
The Mayor and City Council should base their budget negotiations and decisions on reasonable and realistic spending and revenue estimates, particularly regarding FHEPS housing vouchers.
City leaders should prioritize high-impact programs and shrink or end less effective ones, ensuring that FHEPS housing voucher costs are not underbudgeted.
Key Data
$200 million
— The amount of <b>FHEPS housing vouchers</b> that appears low or falls off a cliff in the out-years of the budget.
The expansion of the CityFHEPS housing voucher program is projected to cost billions of dollars, significantly widening future budget gaps if fully implemented. These potential costs, alongside other mandates, threaten the city's long-term fiscal stability and require more accurate budget planning.
Key Data
$849 million
— Current year expected cost of rental assistance programs, primarily City FHEPS housing vouchers.
$171 million
— Next year's budget allocation for rental assistance programs, primarily City FHEPS housing vouchers.
$750 million
— State Comptroller's estimated cost for the first year of the FHEPS expansion.
$4.8 billion
— State Comptroller's estimated cost for the fourth year of the FHEPS expansion.
$370 million
— City Council's estimated cost for the first full year of the FHEPS expansion.
$3.3 billion
— City Council's estimated cost for the FHEPS expansion when fully implemented.
New York City's public housing authority faces a persistent operating budget gap and severe physical deterioration, with capital needs reaching $60 billion. To address these challenges, the authority must prioritize converting developments to Section 8 through the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program and the Preservation Trust while improving management efficiency.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
Fix or replace deteriorating buildings with PACT and the Preservation Trust.
Improve management effectiveness and efficiency, and publicly track progress and impact.
Negotiate savings, boost productivity, and modernize property management through collective bargaining.
Overhaul the rent collection process.
Key Data
$60 billion
— Total five-year capital needs for NYCHA developments.
$791 million
— The gap between public housing expenses and core operating income in 2023.
$1.5 billion
— Total personnel costs for NYCHA in 2023.
46.5 percent
— The share of households behind on their rent in October 2023.
$1,510
— Monthly operating expenses per unit in 2023.
$78 billion
— Total twenty-year capital needs for NYCHA developments.
The CityFHEPS rental assistance program faces significant funding shortfalls, with $704 million needed in fiscal year 2025 to maintain current service levels. Furthermore, proposed expansions to the program's eligibility could cost between $10.6 billion and $17.0 billion over five years, creating substantial long-term budget risks.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
The City should fully fund underbudgeted and fiscal cliff programs, such as the CityFHEPS rental assistance program, to the extent resources are available, or explicitly identify which ones will be shrunk or eliminated.
The City Council should ensure that its proposals for added or modified spending, including expansions to the CityFHEPS program, are affordable based on fully funding or reducing the current set of planned programs.
The Administration should implement an additional PEG in the Executive Budget to balance the fiscal year 2025 budget while ensuring projected spending fully supports all planned programs.
Key Data
$704 million
— The amount needed in fiscal year 2025 to fund the existing CityFHEPS housing voucher program.
$17.0 billion
— The estimated cost of expanding eligibility for the CityFHEPS voucher program over 5 years, according to the Administration.
$10.6 billion
— The City Council's estimate for the cost of expanding eligibility for the CityFHEPS voucher program over 5 years.
$442 million
— The amount allocated in fiscal year 2024 to mitigate the fiscal cliff for the CityFHEPS Rental Assistance program.
The expansion of the CityFHEPS housing voucher program, enacted by the City Council, is not currently included in the City's budget, creating significant future fiscal gaps. Projections for the program's cost vary, with estimates reaching as high as $4.8 billion by fiscal year 2027.
Key Data
$749 million
— Projected cost of the CityFHEPS housing voucher expansion in fiscal year 2024.
$2.1 billion
— Projected cost of the CityFHEPS housing voucher expansion in fiscal year 2025.
$3.5 billion
— Projected cost of the CityFHEPS housing voucher expansion in fiscal year 2026.
$4.8 billion
— Projected cost of the CityFHEPS housing voucher expansion in fiscal year 2027.
$396 million
— City Council's fiscal impact statement estimate for the CityFHEPS expansion in fiscal year 2025.
$3.1 billion
— City Council's fiscal impact statement estimate for the CityFHEPS expansion in fiscal year 2028.
New York State Budget Fiscal Year 2024 Major Actions and Fiscal Risks As of First Quarter Update New York City Fiscal Year 2024 Adopted Budget and Outlook
New York City's rental assistance programs, primarily the CityFHEPS voucher system, have seen costs balloon from $16 million in 2015 to a projected $636 million in 2023, creating a significant fiscal cliff as federal pandemic aid expires. To ensure sustainability, the city must secure federal and state funding, provide realistic cost estimates for program expansions, and identify recurring revenue sources rather than relying on temporary budget allocations.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
An effective, holistic strategy should include appropriate voucher funding from the federal and State governments.
Any proposed expansion to CityFHEPS should include a fiscal impact statement that shows how much it would increase costs and identifies recurring revenues to pay for it.
Budget amounts and allocation decisions, including any expansion to CityFHEPS, should be grounded in realistic utilization and cost estimates for the current program.
The City should provide realistic estimates of the program’s cost and reflect those in the City budget.
Consideration of the three pending bills that would expand eligibility for CityFHEPS should be based on their impact on City spending and from where the resources would come.
Key Data
$636 million
— Projected cost of rental assistance programs in fiscal year 2023.
$450 million
— The fiscal cliff facing rental assistance programs in fiscal year 2024.
$16 million
— Cost of rental assistance programs in fiscal year 2015.
$392 million
— The drop in CityFHEPS funding from 2023 to 2024.
14 percent
— Increase in the Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom apartment between 2021 and 2022.
49 percent
— Share of rental assistance spending covered by federal SLFRF funds in fiscal year 2022.
Rental housing vouchers are a critical tool for subsidizing household incomes and preventing homelessness, yet the financial burden for these programs is increasingly shifting from federal and state governments to the City. Improving the utilization of these vouchers is essential to the success of the City's housing strategy and requires better operational management.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
The City must prioritize ensuring rental housing vouchers get utilized to prevent households from becoming homeless and reduce time spent in shelter.
The City, State, and federal governments should address the demand side of housing by subsidizing household incomes through rental housing vouchers and other household subsidies.
The burden of voucher support should be a federal obligation, and to a lesser extent, the State’s, rather than falling increasingly on the City.
New York City faces a $653 million fiscal cliff that threatens various programs, including those funded only for fiscal year 2022. Among these is $34 million allocated for higher rent levels for housing vouchers, which the administration must now either secure with recurring revenue or eliminate.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
The Adams Administration will need to identify recurring revenues for programs like housing vouchers or eliminate them to address the City-funded fiscal cliff.
Key Data
$34 million
— Funding allocated for higher rent levels for housing vouchers in fiscal year 2022 that now faces a fiscal cliff.
While good cause eviction policies aim to protect tenants, alternative programs like the federal Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program are better designed to alleviate severe rent burdens for low-income households. Policymakers should consider these targeted voucher programs and right to counsel initiatives to support tenants without causing negative impacts on housing supply and property tax revenues.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
Other programs, such as the federal Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, are better suited to alleviating rent burdens, which are most common and most severe among New York’s lowest income households.
In New York City, 921,000 renter households, or 44% of all renters, pay at least 30% of their income in rent, while 462,000 families and single adults face severe rent burdens of 50% or more. Because the city cannot address this affordability gap alone, federal and state partnerships are essential, as the most effective programs for providing low-income, affordable housing have historically been federally funded.
Key Data
921,000
— renter households in New York City, or 44% of all renters, pay at least 30% of their income in rent.
462,000
— families and single adults are severely rent burdened, meaning they pay 50% or more of their income in rent.
300,000
— units are included in the mayor’s entire housing plan, which is insufficient to cover the number of extremely and very low income households that pay half their income in rent.
New York City faces a significant housing affordability crisis, with 44 percent of renter households paying at least 30 percent of their income on rent even after accounting for federal subsidies like Housing Choice Vouchers. Addressing this issue requires substantial state and federal assistance, as the city cannot bridge the affordability gap alone or manage the $32 billion in repairs needed for public housing without external support.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
Any strategy to protect or preserve affordable housing must include public housing and requires federal assistance.
The City cannot and should not be expected to close the affordability gap on its own.
Any strategy to protect or preserve affordable housing must include New York City’s public housing and requires State and federal assistance.
Key Data
921,000
— renter households in New York City pay at least 30 percent of their income in rent after accounting for the value of rental housing vouchers and SNAP benefits.
462,000
— families and single adults are considered severely rent burdened, paying at least half of their income in rent.
1.2 million
— renter households were rent burdened in 2017 based on gross rent.
701,000
— households were severely burdened before accounting for Housing Choice Vouchers and SNAP.
$32 billion
— estimated cost of bringing NYCHA public housing units back to a state of good repair.
$24,423
— average annual earnings of a family living in NYCHA housing.
New York City's spending on homeless services has surged by $1 billion since fiscal year 2014, reaching $2.3 billion in 2017, with significant investments in rental assistance programs like LINC. Despite optimistic budget projections for future reductions, historical trends in caseload growth suggest that expenditures will likely continue to rise without clear milestones for sustainable spending.
Recommendations related to Housing Vouchers
The Administration's new strategy on homelessness should address how much more growth in the homeless population served is actually anticipated.
The Administration's new strategy on homelessness should provide milestones against which to measure progress towards more sustainable spending.
Any new strategy for service redesign or expansion in this area should be accompanied by milestones for reducing spending to sustainable levels.
Key Data
$216 million
— The total cost of New York City's various housing voucher programs in fiscal year 2017.
$113.5 million
— The projected cost of the LINC rental assistance program for fiscal year 2017.
9,560
— The number of households moved out of shelter and into subsidized permanent housing in fiscal year 2016.
$2.3 billion
— The total amount the City spends on homelessness when relevant services from 9 agencies are included.
77%
— The increase in spending on homeless services since fiscal year 2014.
The New York City Housing Authority manages public housing and Section 8 housing vouchers, which provide essential support for low-income residents. These programs form the foundation of the authority's financial and operational activities.
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