Jun. 3, 2025 By Shane O’Brien
As New York City grapples with the ongoing housing crisis, CityFHEPS, a city-funded voucher program for low-income households, has played an increasingly prominent role in securing housing for some of the poorest residents in the city. But the program, which has grown astronomically since its inception in 2018, is locked in legal turmoil amid a years-long battle to expand it.
CityFHEPS started out under the de Blasio Administration in 2019 as a consolidated version of several city-funded rental subsidy programs designed to reduce the population of homeless shelters across the city by ensuring that low-income households pay no more than 30% of their income on rent.
Underlining the scale of the city’s housing crisis, the program has grown from a budget of just $25 million in its inaugural year to a staggering $1.25 billion in 2025, covering more than 55,000 households.
