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Q&A
Discussion on Emergency Housing Voucher program funding and HPD's response
2:31:00
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5 min
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Council Member Pierina Sanchez questions HPD officials about the Emergency Housing Voucher program's federal funding and potential cuts. HPD officials explain the current situation and their plans to address the funding threats.
- HPD receives approximately $50 million annually for over 2,000 Emergency Housing Vouchers
- Recent HUD letter indicates 2025 allocation may be the last, contradicting previous understanding
- HPD is seeking clarification and working with other cities to push back against funding cuts
- HPD is exploring options to integrate affected households into the standard Housing Choice Voucher program if necessary
Pierina Sanchez
2:31:00
So specifically on emergency housing vouchers, how much federal funding does HPD receive for emergency housing vouchers?
2:31:08
Given the HUD letter from earlier this month on this program and yesterday's article in Gothamist, how will HPD ensure that nearly 8,000 New Yorkers who depend on these vouchers continue to stay housed?
Ahmed Tigani
2:31:19
So I'll let Gardier talk to your numbers, and I can answer in second.
Gardea Caphart
2:31:23
Yes.
2:31:23
Yeah.
2:31:24
Thank you council members.
2:31:25
So for the emergency housing vouchers, we get approximately 50,000,000 a year to cover the over 2,000 vouchers that we have allocated to us.
Pierina Sanchez
2:31:34
I'm sorry.
2:31:35
Was $1.05, 15,000,000?
Gardea Caphart
2:31:36
No, no, $5.00.
Pierina Sanchez
2:31:37
5 0.
Gardea Caphart
2:31:38
5 0, 50.
2:31:39
And so yes, we also saw the notice come out, so we do get annual letters of our allocation for each calendar year.
2:31:46
The letter that you referenced came out in early March stating that the 2025 allocation will be the last allocation and that's what we were all pushing back against and continue to push back against.
2:31:59
Because as you mentioned, our understanding is that has been all along that we will stop reissuing vouchers, but for those that remain, it will phase out over time to 02/1930, and that's what we're expecting.
2:32:11
And also that letter, one of the confusions there is that it also alluded to another allocation for calendar year twenty six.
2:32:19
So we are seeking clarification on that as well.
2:32:21
We are in touch with our colleagues at OMB just monitoring the situation in terms of that funding to see what we can do as a city to push back.
2:32:31
But the key here is to continue to push back.
2:32:33
That's a commitment the federal government made to the City Of New York, to our residents, and we'll continue to fight to maintain that funding.
Ahmed Tigani
2:32:39
Yeah, and I'll just add a little bit more shape to it.
2:32:42
So we as a city, 17 different agencies came together in order to make sure that we can execute this program and get every voucher vouchered by the due date of which was December 2023.
2:32:55
And generally speaking, and this is not the only special purpose voucher the city Of New York has, special purpose vouchers are something the federal government has done for other groups, for other reasons.
2:33:06
When they have a timeline to it, you have an arc where through attrition there are households who Most households leave the program for very benign reasons.
2:33:14
They no longer need the voucher.
2:33:15
They move to another state, etcetera.
2:33:18
There was an arc where we would have already envisioned having to integrate households at the end of that period into our standard housing choice voucher program.
2:33:27
We know how to do it, we've done it before.
2:33:29
Obviously, I'm upset about the HV two she said.
2:33:35
But the acceleration puts us in a difficult place because right now as we're dealing with those questions, we're dealing with the question about our section eight funding overall, which would have been the backup source for this.
2:33:49
So this is what we're doing.
2:33:51
So right now we have been actively talking to national organizations and working with public housing authorities across the country.
2:34:01
Not only to collect information but also as you know there are different heads of different regions within HUD.
2:34:07
And they are And we're working to see if there is consistent information.
2:34:11
We are collecting information about this nationally.
2:34:15
70,000 vouchers nationally were issued.
2:34:20
11% of those coming to New York.
2:34:22
So baseline, the most immediate solution would be to integrate a household that has a special
Pierina Sanchez
2:34:28
purpose out of I'm sorry, I'm gonna request a thirty second break.
Lincoln Restler
2:34:39
Sorry, commissioner.
2:34:40
Yes.
2:34:41
I'm here for a second.
Guillermo Patino
2:34:42
Oh, this is
Lincoln Restler
2:34:46
Good.
2:34:47
Just a second,
Jonathan Cohen
2:34:55
Number two.
Ahmed Tigani
2:34:58
First we are, as Gardia pointed out, there are there's information in the actual notes that was issued that we're collecting and collaborating with other cities across the country that were also recipients of this to make sure we understand the facts of what they're changing and what they're not changing.
2:35:12
The second move is those individuals that have these vouchers, we would traditionally incorporate them into our standard allocation.
2:35:20
But as I mentioned, we also have to monitor and watch that as well.
2:35:24
What I think the baseline piece here is similarly to what has recently happened with the cuts to community development funding institution, the CDFI funds.
2:35:36
There's bipartisan support for section eight.
2:35:38
There's bipartisan support for vouchers.
2:35:40
So we would look to activate that support while we work on the program to make sure we are consistent and talking to HUD about exactly what their plans are.
2:35:50
And separately we are doing a wholesale take of what the Section eight program can do in order to help preserve options for these families if and when that funding goes away.