NYC falling short of Mayor Adams’ goal on federal rental assistance vouchers

Mayor Eric Adams laid out an ambitious goal in his State of the City speech last year: For the first time in more than a decade, New York City would begin accepting new applications from New Yorkers seeking a coveted rental assistance voucher under the federal Section 8 housing program. Adams promised his administration would aim to issue 1,000 of those vouchers each month.

But one year later, data obtained by Gothamist shows the city has so far fallen short of that goal. The New York City Housing Authority, which administers the Section 8 voucher program in the five boroughs, has only been issuing about 250 vouchers per month since it established a new waitlist in August. The list has 200,000 households selected from a pool of more than 600,000 applicants.

Just 134 of the 1,513 households who received a voucher since August have actually used them to rent an apartment amid the city’s serious housing shortage. Tenants with Section 8 vouchers typically pay 30% of their income toward rent for an apartment on the private market, while the federal government covers the remainder.

Agency data also shows the city was issuing far more vouchers overall before the start of the new waitlist. It distributed 4,708 between January 2024 and when it finalized the new list of applicants in August last year.

NYCHA officials told Gothamist that additional paperwork requirements were slowing down voucher distribution. The agency is prioritizing people with mobility impairments, like those who use wheelchairs, under Section 8 rules that give preference to people with disabilities and accessibility needs. Those applicants must submit proof that they have a disability — another step in the process.

By contrast, people still on the previous waitlist last year only had to demonstrate they met income requirements, making it easier for the agency to issue vouchers.

But NYCHA spokesperson Andrew Sklar said the city was ramping up distribution after contacting more than 11,300 applicants, encouraging them to get their eligibility paperwork in order and scheduling interviews.

“We will continue working through the 200,000 candidates appointed to the refreshed waitlist with the goal of increasing the number of vouchers issued — depending on applicant eligibility, funding, and authorized voucher capacity — in hopes of connecting as many as possible to affordable housing options within the private market,” Sklar wrote in an emailed statement.

City Hall spokesperson Amaris Cockfield said Adams deserved credit for establishing a new waitlist “after 15 years of inaction.” The city closed the Section 8 waiting list during former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s tenure and did not reopen it during former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration due to a large number of applications for a limited number of vouchers.

But housing advocates say the city must pick up the pace.

“I think they can do a better job getting people those vouchers right now,” said Jessica Valencia, cofounder of the organization Unlock NYC, which fights voucher discrimination and helps low-income New Yorkers find housing. “Now, more than ever, New Yorkers need this sort of assistance to help them pay rent. Rents are incredibly expensive. Shelters are at capacity.”

Ed Josephson, a staff attorney at the nonprofit Legal Aid Society, also urged NYCHA to get the vouchers into the hands of low-income renters faster. He said the city could coordinate with social service groups and other nonprofits to streamline the administrative process.

“If they thought the documentation was going to be a big problem, maybe they should have made a plan for that,” Josephson said.

But he praised NYCHA for prioritizing wheelchair users and people with other mobility impairments, adding that it will help many who are “stuck” in apartments inappropriate for their accessibility needs, like walk-ups or buildings with broken elevators.

New York City operates its own voucher program, known as CityFHEPS, for thousands of families and individuals who have experienced homelessness, but Adams has refused to implement the City Council’s expansion of the program, which would have reached more people facing eviction. A separate voucher program run by New York state is reserved for a narrow subset of low-income families.

The vast demand for rental assistance underscores a larger problem that goes far beyond the city’s capacity to find a solution.

Nationwide, only around a quarter of people eligible for rental assistance actually receive it, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. NYCHA receives only about 115,000 vouchers from the federal government. All but 9,000 are in use, according to agency statistics from 2024.

Josephson said he also worried the Trump administration may attempt to cut rental assistance programs further.

“The program doesn’t begin to help the thousands and thousands of people who can’t afford rent in New York City,” Josephson said. “What we need is a federal voucher program that extends to everybody.”