Some New Yorkers in need of housing aid could catch a break later this year under Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to issue thousands of federal rental assistance vouchers and accept new applications for the first time in almost 15 years.
But others who’ve waited years could find themselves on the outside looking in after the city purged their names from a vast Section 8 waiting list because of administrative reasons.
The city’s plan to begin accepting new Section 8 applications for the first time since the Bloomberg administration comes as it contends with soaring rents, shrinking housing supply and a record-high homeless population driven by a rise in newly arrived migrants, as well as longtime New Yorkers who cannot afford the cost of permanent housing.
Adams briefly mentioned the proposal during his State of the City address last Wednesday, saying the city would issue “1,000 vouchers a month” to low-income households at some point this year.
“We will help more people get into homes and stay in their homes once they are there,” he said.
But so far, additional details are hard to come by. There is no clear timeline for when the city will actually start accepting new applications or begin issuing the federal subsidies at the rate Adams mentioned.
Nearly 100,000 households in New York City already use Section 8 vouchers to help pay rent, and the New York City Housing Authority issued most of those vouchers in a role that is separate from its responsibilities as the nation’s largest public housing authority. A NYCHA spokesperson said the agency will start accepting new applications at some point later this year.
About 7,000 applicants are left on a waiting list that ballooned to more than 100,000 households as recently as five years ago, according to NYCHA.
“As the largest landlord in New York City, NYCHA understands firsthand the importance of affordable housing and the need to use every available tool to connect more families with decent, safe and sanitary places…
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