$50 million for housing vouchers is better than nothing

Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed that the Housing Access Voucher Program would receive $50 million in funding in this year’s state budget, although details about the program’s parameters are still being hashed out. 

Lawmakers had originally aimed for $250 million to fund the Housing Voucher Access Program, which would subsidize the cost of leases for low-income New Yorkers, but Hochul maintained for years that the cost would balloon unsustainably. Its omission in her executive budget proposal raised some eyebrows since state Democrats broadcasted a commitment to affordability to start the legislative session. 

As budget negotiations progressed, Hochul changed her tune and lent support to the measure, which is sponsored by state Sen. Brian Kavanagh and Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, the Housing Committee chairs in their respective chambers. Both the real estate industry and tenant advocates, who are typically foes, have called on Hochul to support the voucher program. 

“We're looking at about $50 million right now, which is from zero to $50 million to look at a program to help families that are struggling. God, economic times are so hard, and if people can't even live in a home, they're gonna be on our streets,” Hochul told reporters Tuesday.

However, her concerns about the cost of providing housing vouchers remain. 

“So this is something that we're looking to initiate for the first time here, moderating the cost and keeping an eye on the program, because this has potential to escalate a great deal,” she said.

Rosenthal credited Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie for pushing for a robustly funded program, but confirmed that negotiations landed at the dollar amount that Hochul cited. “Unfortunately, $50 million is what we have right now,” she told City & State. “That doesn't mean that in the future, we're not going to fight for a lot more funding.” 

Rosenthal called the compromise a “foot in the door,” but added that all parties still needed to “flesh out all the details.” She specifically mentioned that the length of the voucher program is still being debated. A source with knowledge of negotiations suggested that legislators want the program to begin in September, while the governor wants to delay its start until April of next year.

Kavanagh said that legislators and the governor are still negotiating. “But I think that the critical thing is we get this program launched… And I'm optimistic that we'll get a good, effective program that will really make a difference for people,” he told City & State. 

On the $50 million number, Kavanagh wouldn’t directly opine. But he acknowledged that the first year of such a voucher program will cost less than future years as it gets off the ground. “As long as we get a commitment to a robust program, and we get, again, a program that is designed properly… I think that'll be a victory,” Kavanagh said.

Housing advocates are shocked and happily surprised at the legislative about-face, but still skeptical about what the final product will look like. Between the parameters of a pilot program and what additional funding could or would look like, Housing Justice for All Campaign Coordinator Cea Weaver thinks the “devil’s in the details.”

“$50 million is just not enough money,” Weaver said. “And you know, if we're getting the door open to start a program, that's good, but we're very concerned (for) people who get the program that HAVP will not be a permanent voucher that doesn't kick you off of housing assistance in two years.”

Sam Stein, a senior policy analyst for the Community Service Society of New York, which supports HAVP, said that $50 million dollars would fund vouchers for roughly 2,500 apartments.  For reference, City Mission, a housing nonprofit, reported that 6,375 people in Western New York alone face homelessness. 

Stein, like Weaver, thinks the funding plan doesn’t go far enough to address the purpose of the bill, especially as the federal government threatens the future of federal Section 8 housing vouchers. But he hopes that seeing the bang for your buck effect of aiding New Yorkers searching for housing could convince her to commit more money in next year’s state budget.

“The expenses around homelessness are about shelter, but they’re also about all the things that happen because a person is homeless, which may include involvement in the criminal justice system, it may include emergency healthcare and it may include extra cost of schooling because they move from school to school,” Stein said. “There’s all these social costs that have real budget costs as well that are defrayed by just housing people.”

The real estate industry side is pleased as well with the inclusion of HAVP in the budget, but it echoed tenant advocates’ complaints about the relatively small amount of money Hochul committed. “We thank the governor and legislature for understanding the need to include a state voucher program in this year’s budget, but we are disappointed more funding was not included,” said Jay Martin, executive vice president of the New York Apartment Association. “The current proposal will likely only help a few thousand renters.”