New York Housing Conference executive director Rachel Fee wrote an Op-Ed in LoHud calling on the state to pass and fund the Housing Access Voucher Program. The rental assistance program, modeled after Section 8 where tenants pay no more than 30 percent of their income on rent and the government pays the difference, is supported by experts, advocates, and practitioners across the political spectrum, from tenant organizations and left-wing activists to the Real Estate Board of New York.
Given the extreme housing crisis we are facing, which could get worse if we don’t prevent evictions for people that lost income during the pandemic, we need more federal, state and local rental assistance programs.
Legislators in Albany are facing an important question: will they capitalize on the opportunity to enact the boldest, most inclusive anti-homelessness measure in decades? Or will they let New York’s homelessness crisis, already at its highest peak since the Great Depression, continue to accelerate unchecked?
We will find out the answer soon. It all hinges on whether Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature agree to include The Housing Access Voucher Program in the state’s budget, which is set to be finalized any day now. The program is modeled after the federal rental assistance program known as Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, and it would be transformative for New York.
Read the Op-Ed here.