Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York state Legislature leaders plan to allocate at least $50 million to the Housing Access Voucher Program, Hochul and other legislative leaders said Tuesday.
The initiative, modeled after the federal Section 8 program, could help low-income New Yorkers secure permanent housing.
The Housing Access Voucher Program’s inclusion in the proposed $254 billion state spending plan comes at a time when President Donald Trump’s administration is mulling potential cuts to Section 8. Advocates have said the cuts could be devastating for Syracuse residents, pushing them out of their homes.
A loss of Section 8 funds could also impact the redevelopment of public housing in the aftermath of the demolition of Interstate 81, a project years in the making, said Syracuse Housing Authority Executive Director Bill Simmons.
The voucher program could help house thousands of low-income residents by subsidizing their rent, housing advocates and state leaders said. But, with the funding currently proposed, it would not be able to cover any significant cuts to federal voucher programs advocates anticipate.
The governor and the legislature’s current proposal to fund HAVP is $50 million, or 20%, of what Albany lawmakers have proposed in past years. That proposal would be part of a state budget that is 30 days late.
“I anticipate that the cuts to federal voucher programs will be bigger than $50 million, but HAVP will still prevent the worst impacts of the federal cuts,” said Christine Quinn, the president and CEO of Win, the largest provider of shelter and supportive housing in New York City.
HAVP has been in the Legislature since 2020 and its proponents have advocated for around $250 million to fund the program, which they said would help stabilize thousands of homeless New Yorkers and households facing homelessness.
State Sen. Brian Kavanagh, who chairs the senate’s committee on housing and is the original sponsor of the HVAP bill, said the $50 million proposal is still up for negotiation. A spokesperson for Gov. Hochul confirmed Kavanagh’s comments and noted that officials would reveal more details as negotiations continue.
“I think this is a big step forward,” Kavanagh said Thursday in the afternoon. “It is an ongoing negotiation. But it is going in the right direction.”
The governor has already hinted at potentially adding more funding in the future. Hochul told reporters the state is “moderating the cost and keeping an eye on the program,” a spokesperson for the governor told Central Current.
Kavanagh and Linda Rosenthal, the chair of the State Assembly’s Standing Committee on Housing, have hinted that the state may spend more money on the program in the coming years.
“This has the potential to escalate a great deal,” Hochul said.
As the potential for federal budget cuts to programs like Section 8 loom large, Kavanagh said that HVAP has only become more important.
“We never pretended that a program like this was going to make it unnecessary for the federal government to do its part,” Kavangh said. “And that continues to be true, but I will say it is important that we have tools available to us for the state agencies to do what we can to prevent people from experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness. This is a great tool, and it’s never been more important than it is right now.”
How the program could work
It is unclear if and how Albany lawmakers may tweak the original HAVP bill.
The original bill sponsored by Kavanagh and Rosenthal would task local public housing authorities to distribute vouchers to low-income New Yorkers, similar to the way Section 8’s housing choice voucher program works.
More people qualify for the state’s proposed voucher program than Section 8. The program helps individuals who are facing eviction, currently homeless, or facing loss of housing due to domestic violence or hazardous living conditions. HAVP housing tenants would contribute 30% of their income toward rent, with the rest covered by a state subsidy.
HAVP is also open to groups of New Yorkers excluded in by Section 8, including:
- State residents without a legal immigration status
- Tenants with no income
- New Yorkers with prior felony convictions
The program would pay up to 100% of fair market rent. For a two bedroom apartment in Syracuse, fair market rent is $1,321, according to U.S. Housing and Urban Development data.
The original bill commits at least 50% of the funding to help house homeless families.
“It allows people to live stably in their homes,” Kavanagh said.
Kavanagh said modeling the program after Section 8 makes HAVP easier to administer.
“That personnel will be able to do this in a relatively straightforward way,” Kavanagh said.
Local officials fear fed cuts, praise state vouchers
In Onondaga County, the news that Trump could slash Section 8 shocked local lawmakers, who fear the ramifications of reduced federal funding for Section 8.
Simmons, who runs the local Section 8 program, believes it needs more investment.
Those officials are looking to Albany and Washington, D.C., for more clarity on the housing voucher programs.
Assemblymembers Pam Hunter, Bill Magnarell, and State Senators Chris Ryan and Rachel May, who all represent Syracuse, did not provide comment to Central Current by the publication of this story.
Councilor Patrona Jones-Rowser, who chairs the Syracuse Common Council’s housing committee, said federal cuts to Section 8 would be ‘devastating,’ and lauded the Housing Access Voucher Program.
“Governor Hochuls reconsideration of the state established vouchers couldn’t come at a greater time,” Jones-Rowser.
Pat Hogan, who serves as the council’s president pro tempore and is a candidate in the city’s mayoral race, said cuts to Section 8 cuts would be disastrous. He questioned the sustainability of New York State – which has more renter protections than many other states – filling in for federal funding.
“It’s traditionally been a federal deal, and now we’re adding more money onto this, more pressure on the state to get these things done,” Hogan said. “Then you think about what other states, who are notoriously frugal when it comes to housing poor folks – it’s gonna be bad.”
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