Supporters say expanding the state’s new Housing Access Voucher Program, which helps low-income New Yorkers at risk of homelessness afford a place to live, could bridge the gap for 5,500 city households whose federal rent assistance expires this year.
Some 5,500 households across the city who rely on federal housing vouchers to afford their rent will lose that aid this year—and homelessness advocates say the state should step up to fill the gap.
As Albany finalizes a very late budget plan, lawmakers and advocates are continuing to press for it to include more money for the Housing Voucher Access Program (HAVP), a state-run rental subsidy which helps low-income New Yorkers at risk of homelessness afford a place to live.
Additional HAVP funds, they say, could replace pandemic-era federal Emergency Housing Vouchers that run out this year—earlier than originally expected—after the Trump administration and Congress stopped funding them. Thousands of city households that use the vouchers could become homeless once they expire, advocates warn…