New York’s housing crisis is about to get a whole lot worse, especially for Bronx residents.
Just ask Ms. M, a 57-year-old Bronx resident living with a disability, who has called the same apartment home for 19 years.
Ms. M’s rent is $1,326, an expense she can only cover because of the $1,000 in federal rental assistance she receives, support she stands to lose in a matter of months without additional action from the State.
Ms. M, like 5,218 other households living in private apartments subsidized by the New York City Housing Authority’s Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program, now face the terrifying prospect of losing their vouchers and being pushed into housing instability or even homelessness.
These tenants, many of whom reside in the Bronx, have relied on that support to remain stably housed. EHV — a federal rental subsidy created through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — has helped thousands of low-income New Yorkers remain in their affordable homes.
But there is hope, and Albany can thwart this looming housing crisis for the Bronx and vulnerable residents across the state by allocating $250 million in the FY27 budget to fully fund the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP), a newly created rental assistance initiative that can keep vulnerable New Yorkers housed and prevent thousands from falling into homelessness.
EHVs were a lifeline born out of crisis, giving thousands of New Yorkers a fighting chance at stability. But that lifeline is now fraying. As federal funding runs dry, families who finally found stable housing face being pushed back to the brink of eviction, shelter, and homelessness unless Albany steps in with a permanent housing solution.
Earlier this week, new Senate and Assembly district-level data highlighted exactly where the expiration of EHVs will hit hardest, and the answer is painfully familiar: working-class communities of color in the Bronx who are already carrying the heaviest burden of New York’s housing crisis.
Nearly half of all New York City households relying on EHVs live in the Bronx.
The Bronx faces the highest concentration of households at risk of losing housing vouchers of any county in New York State. In our districts alone, nearly 1,000 households, representing well over 2,000 New Yorkers, stand to lose their homes if Albany fails to act.
Our neighborhoods are already grappling with rising rents, chronic housing insecurity, and disproportionate rates of homelessness. Allowing this lifeline to disappear would force the very New Yorkers who have borne the brunt of our housing failures to shoulder yet another devastating blow.
Albany already has the blueprint for action. Last year, New York took an important first step by establishing a $50 million HAVP pilot, a statewide rental assistance initiative designed to help New Yorkers who are homeless or at risk of losing their homes secure stable housing.
Just as importantly, HAVP was built to reach people too often locked out of existing housing assistance, including undocumented New Yorkers, people with prior felony convictions, and individuals with no income, closing longstanding gaps in the housing safety net. Now lawmakers must build on that progress.
By funding HAVP at $250 million in the FY27 budget, Albany can scale this model statewide, prevent evictions, reduce homelessness and create a permanent pathway to housing stability for tens of thousands of New Yorkers.
The numbers are no longer abstract, and neither are the consequences of inaction. We know exactly what is at stake for families across New York. We know who will bear the cost if Albany stands idle, and we know what it will take to prevent it. The only question now is whether Albany will act.
For Ms. M and the thousands of New Yorkers like her, the choice lawmakers make in this year’s budget will determine whether they remain safely housed or are pushed toward eviction, shelter, and homelessness. New York cannot afford to get this wrong.
