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Premature End To Federal Housing Aid Threatens 5 000 Nyc Landlords

Leo Migdal
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premature end to federal housing aid threatens 5 000 nyc landlords

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2025. Donate today Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations When his brother’s mental health began to deteriorate, Michael Bell moved out of the apartment they shared and entered a New York City homeless shelter with his young daughter. Bell, who is now 47, said he and his daughter received a “blessing” in 2021 in the form of a federally funded rental voucher. It helped them afford an apartment in East New York after two years of stalled housing searches and allowed them to leave the shelter system.

But now, their housing may be in jeopardy, at a time when the city faces a severe affordable housing crunch and record-high rents. Our nonprofit newsroom relies on readers like you to power investigations like these. Join the community that powers NYC’s independent local news. President Donald Trump’s proposed budget released last week would shred New York’s housing safety net by cutting billions of dollars in federal aid, putting limits on vouchers used by some 500,000 people statewide. Landlords, especially owners of smaller rent-stabilized buildings, would suddenly find that many of their tenants could no longer pay rent, leading to evictions, according to an analysis of the proposed Department of Housing and... “If these changes to HUD programs become law, they’ll trigger a devastating wave of evictions, homelessness, market destabilization, and mortgage defaults across New York,” said Rachel Fee, executive director of NYHC.

“We’re calling on Congress to step up to protect renters, protect landlords, and stop this reckless disruption before it starts.” The city’s affordable housing landlords are in need of a colossal $1 billion in spending from the next mayor to dodge default, according to an affordable housing nonprofit. Razor-thin margins are often considered part and parcel of operating affordable housing units in New York City, but a growing number of these operators are failing to make ends meet. A recent analysis by the New York Housing Conference, first reported by Bloomberg, reported worrying signs of distress among some of the city’s most affordable housing stock. A looming rent freeze under the forthcoming Mamdani administration could make physical conditions worse for rent-stabilized tenants, the analysis found, as well as make costs higher for market-rate tenants. Tens of thousands of the city’s roughly 213,000 publicly subsidized affordable housing units are in distress, according to the brief.

A snowball effect of dramatic insurance hikes, rising operational costs, minuscule rent increases and pandemic-era nonpayments have prevented owners from keeping up with costs. New York Housing Conference released a new analysis about the impact of the sudden cut to funding for the Emergency Housing Voucher Program. The Emergency Housing Voucher Program (EHV) was part of a package of COVID relief passed in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. $5 billion was appropriated to fund 70,000 rental assistance vouchers to serve the most vulnerable populations – including those at risk of or experiencing homelessness; domestic violence survivors; and survivors of human trafficking. New York State has issued over 9,400 vouchers. However, in March, HUD announced the original appropriation for the vouchers would be exhausted during 2026 or possibly 2025, four years earlier than expected.

This is the first time PHAs were given notice that the money for the vouchers would run out before September 30, 2030. This abrupt loss of funding will be harmful to families, children, property owners, and the state as a whole. Most participating households cannot afford the market rent of their current apartment without the federal subsidy and the housing supply shortage means it would be next to impossible for them to find new homes. In addition, ending EHV payments will hurt landlords financially, especially rent stabilized building owners. See more about the impacts to tenants and landlords, and the impact by Congressional district in our analysis here. The federal government shutdown that began October 1 is casting a shadow over New York City's massive public housing system, with funding for critical operations at risk if the political stalemate drags into next...

For the 400,000-plus New Yorkers who call NYCHA developments home, the uncertainty marks yet another challenge in a year already marked by funding crises and federal policy turbulence. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will likely exhaust its funding for public housing authorities under the Section 9 program after November payments go out, according to Gothamist. That's unless Congress manages to pass a continuing spending resolution—which, given the current partisan gridlock, feels increasingly uncertain. The shutdown began when the budget expired and lawmakers failed to reach a compromise. There's somewhat better news for Section 8 voucher holders, at least for now. HUD officials say they plan to continue issuing payments to help cover rent through the end of the year, even as other programs face funding cliffs, as reported by Gothamist.

But agency officials warned that a prolonged shutdown would eventually impact all payments for people living in subsidized housing. This disparity in funding outlooks stems from how Congress appropriated money—Section 8 received advanced funding before the shutdown, while Section 9 public housing operating funds did not, according to Gothamist. For context, NYCHA receives roughly $200 million monthly from HUD to administer the nation's largest Section 8 program, serving about 96,000 voucher recipients across the five boroughs. Meanwhile, HUD provides approximately $100 million each month for public housing operations—representing about two-thirds of NYCHA's total operating budget—to maintain 335 developments citywide, according to Gothamist. The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development also receives more than $55 million monthly to run a smaller Section 8 program for roughly 36,000 households. "This is funding that people rely on that helps them pay the rent each month," Will Fischer, director of housing policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told Gothamist.

If HUD stops making public housing payments, he warned, it "would have really serious consequences for housing agencies' ability to maintain those developments, to cover things like utility costs and do a whole set... Donald Trump’s proposed federal funding freeze was on the table for mere hours, but a week later, it’s still causing chaos. New York City officials delayed payments to thousands of landlords on Monday whose tenants use Section 8 housing vouchers, Gothamist reported. At least a dozen property owners with hundreds of units contacted the likes of New York Apartment Association senior vice president Jay Martin as the day went on. The program, which is administered by the New York City Housing Authority, is backed by $2 billion annually from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Private landlords receive their funds at the beginning of the month, but awoke Monday to a dearth of expected deposits.

A NYCHA spokesperson said the delays were due to confusion from the Trump administration’s proposal for federal agencies to pause all payments. The spokesperson added that NYCHA had received the funds as of Monday morning and started processing payments, which were expected to hit bank accounts within one business day. “One day is significant,” said Martin. “We really need to make sure the government and NYCHA make sure this doesn’t happen again.” Daniris Espinal stands for a portrait in Sunset Park, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Daniris Espinal walks through Sunset Park, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Daniris Espinal stands for a portrait in Sunset Park, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Moments after Daniris Espinal walked into her new apartment in Brooklyn, she prayed. In ensuing nights, she would awaken and touch the walls for reassurance — finding in them a relief that turned to tears over her morning coffee.

Those walls were possible through a federal program that pays rent for some 60,000 families and individuals fleeing homelessness or domestic violence. Espinal was fleeing both.

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