Housing vouchers are back from the dead in budget talks

State leaders are negotiating a potential deal to include a long-desired rental voucher bill in the state budget, according to sources with knowledge of the discussions. It’s the most serious that discussions about the measure have gotten since legislators and housing advocates started pushing for it in earnest several years ago.

Talk of the Housing Access Voucher Program emerged as the state budget nears the one month mark in tardiness. Although the measure has widespread support from tenant advocates and real estate interests alike, Gov. Kathy Hochul has repeatedly declined to back the measure in the past over the price tag. Advocates have called for a minimum of $250 million to fund the program that would provide rental vouchers to people at imminent risk of eviction and those currently experiencing homelessness. They estimate the total cost of the program to hit about $1 billion, while the governor’s office has asserted it would cost the state as much as $6 billion to implement. 

Both the state Senate and Assembly have included the voucher program and $250 million of funding in their one-house budget proposals for several years. Without support from the governor, though, the measure has fallen off the table time and again. Now, multiple sources with knowledge of negotiations say that Hochul has expressed a new openness to discussing the program and the potential for finding a compromise to include it in the late spending plan. One source suggested that while the governor’s office may not be offering a “warm” reception, the fact that they opened the door at all is a big step forward compared to years past. 

Although legislative leaders are discussing the prospect of a deal, details on what exactly that would look like remain murky. The biggest question that remains unanswered is exactly how much money the state would dedicate to the program in the case of a compromise. None of the sources briefed on discussions could even provide a ballpark estimate of what the governor may counter with, if not the full $250 million that advocates and lawmakers have pushed for.

The Housing Access Voucher Program has continued to rack up support from a variety of interests, even those that often find themselves on opposing sides on other housing matters. Both Housing Committee chairs in the Legislature recently published a joint op-ed with Real Estate Board of New York President James Whelan and WIN CEO Christine Quinn in support of the measure. Several high profile unions – including 32BJ, the United Federation of Teachers and DC37 – also sent a new letter to Hochul on Thursday offering their support for the program as well, marking the first time that labor has offered public, unified advocacy for the bill.