The New York City Council announced on Wednesday that it filed court papers to join a lawsuit against Mayor Eric Adams’ administration for allegedly failing to implement a series of laws that would help more residents pay their rent and avoid homelessness.
The Council’s motion, which was filed in New York state Supreme Court, aims to add the Legislature as a petitioner in the class-action lawsuit, which the Legal Aid Society originally filed earlier this month on behalf of several low-income New Yorkers who stand to benefit from an expansion of the city's housing voucher program, known as CityFHEPS.
The move, which was signaled as a possibility since late last year, represents an escalation in the Council's deep-seated rift with the mayor. It comes after the Adams administration said it could not enact the full scope of legislation the Council passed to broaden eligibility for CityFHEPS, due to cost and legal concerns. The legislation went into effect on Jan. 9, nearly six months after councilmembers overrode Adams' veto against it.
The Council and the Legal Aid Society allege the administration is illegally refusing to put the new voucher rules into effect as the city faces skyrocketing rents and a widening affordability crisis.
“His refusal not only deprives New Yorkers of housing benefits to which they are entitled under the law; it usurps the powers of the Council, a co-equal branch of city government, and it upends the separation of powers enshrined in the City Charter,” court papers filed by the Council state. “What he could not secure through the Charter-established process, the mayor is now attempting to achieve by unlawfully abdicating his duties.”
Adams' spokesperson Kayla Mamelak told Gothamist his office plans to review the Council’s filings. She also repeated the administration’s previous claims that the CityFHEPS bills violate state law by seeking “to legislate in an area where authority is resolved to the state” and would burden the city with a hefty $17 billion price tag — an estimate the Council has said is inflated.
Adams' veto of the voucher bills last June marked his second time vetoing Council legislation. Since then, he also vetoed bills requiring NYPD officers to disclose low-level investigatory stops of civilians and banning solitary confinement in most instances in city jails. The Council later dealt a major blow to Adams' policy agenda by overriding those vetoes.
The Council is moving to join the CityFHEPS lawsuit to “represent the city Legislature’s interests,” according to a release it put out on Wednesday. The suit was originally filed on Feb. 14, and the Legal Aid Society said in a statement on the Council’s motion that it looked forward to “working with the Council through the litigation process to secure the outcome that New Yorkers need and deserve.”
Christine Quinn, a former Council speaker who now heads the nonprofit shelter provider Win, also praised the Legislature’s action, saying that “by refusing the implement these reforms, the Adams administration is effectively forcing families like Win client Ms. Marie Vincent, a lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, and her 12-year-old grandson to stay in shelter.”
Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park echoed Adams’ concerns about the cost of enacting the CityFHEPS bills in a December letter to the Council’s Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, who represents parts of Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. Park wrote that she disagreed with the Legislature’s assessment that the bills would spend tax dollars “more wisely and effectively” and expressed a desire to avoid a lawsuit.
“In view of our shared goals of making sure that as many people as possible remain stably and permanently housed, we hope to avoid the protracted time and expense of litigation and work collaboratively with the Council to address the city's ongoing homelessness crisis,” she wrote.
David Brand contributed reporting.
