City Council members expect to override Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of a bill that would prevent rent hikes for many low-income New Yorkers using housing vouchers.
Currently, households that receive CityFHEPS rental assistance vouchers contribute 30% of their income to rent. But a proposal this year from the Adams administration’s Department of Social Services would increase that to 40% for tenants with jobs when they enter their sixth years in the program. The administration has previously said it needs the funds to control the program’s rising costs.
The bill, sponsored by City Council Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala and passed last month, would head off that change — capping contributions at 30% regardless of whether voucher recipients have earned income or rely on other assistance. The federal department of Housing and Urban Development considers a household "cost-burdened" when it spends more than 30% of its monthly income on housing costs, including utilities.
“I was not surprised by the mayor’s decision to veto a bill intended to ensure that lower-income workers were not put in a position where they would be seriously rentburdened,” Ayala said in a statement to Gothamist this week. “I look forward to casting my vote to override his veto.”
It’s one of several bills Adams vetoed late last week, despite the measures having passed with veto-proof majorities on the Council. Others would increase salary transparency requirements for private employers in the city or aim to reduce late payments to non-profit service organizations, according to a statement from the Council.
In a statement on Monday, the Council called Adams’ actions “embarrassing.”
But Adams’ first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, called the bills “nothing but an attempt by the City Council to undermine any future mayor’s authority, burden businesses with unenforceable requirements, and encroach upon the state’s jurisdiction around social services.”
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani previously vowed to expand access to the housing voucher program, so more New Yorkers could receive assistance.
He plans to “drop lawsuits against CityFHEPs and ensure expansion proceeds as scheduled and per City Law,” according to his campaign website.
