NYC Department of Social Services to allow housing vouchers to be used statewide

As The Big Apple continues in it’s struggle to house undocumented immigrants  flocking to the sanctuary city, the NYCDSS (New York City’s Department of Social Services) announced a controversial plan to allow homeless residents of NYC to seek housing in neighboring counties. 

As of Tuesday night, NYCDSS will allow city-issued housing vouchers to be used statewide by its low-income residents to alleviate homelessness . Under the plan CityFHEPS, participants secure 5-year leases paying 30% of the housing and NYCDSS pays the rest. 

The move has been met with outrage from Rockland Officials convinced that Mayor Eric Adams is off loading his responsibilities to other parts of the state. 

“This is another attempt by the City of New York and Mayor Eric Adams to circumvent the laws and shift a problem resulting from its failed homeless and Sanctuary City policies to other municipalities,” said County Executive Ed Day. “What Mayor Adams fails to realize is this does not solve the problem; it only spreads it across New York State while incentivizing more illegal immigration among migrants eager to backfill the spots in City shelters as they open. Reports confirm migrants are not just coming from the border, but across the country for the free housing, food, and services being provided by the City.”

The New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (NYSOTDA) recently spoke with Department of Social Services statewide for input on this city strategy. Departments informed NYSOTDA it would be a bad idea because placing low-income individuals in housing in their current county is already extremely difficult due to housing shortages.

“Any such plan would drive our price of housing up further in an already unaffordable market and cause competition among local programs,” explained Rockland County Department of Social Services Commissioner Joan Silvestri. “It is up to the municipality where the homeless reside to house them within its borders. The City cannot change the rules because they are unable to handle their homelessness.”   

“The City of New York created the policies that are fueling these problems. Their solution is to avoid responsibility by encouraging their homeless to move to other counties just so the city can save money on the backs of taxpayers from other jurisdictions. As a matter of law, if one of these people loses their jobs or has other needs for public funding, it will be burdened upon the new county to provide,” said County Attorney Thomas Humbach.  

In a joint call between the 57 counties outside New York City and City Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park, all county executives who spoke echoed concerns about the City’s lack of cooperation with it’s neighboring counties, in addition to criticizing the costs beyond housing including school, health, and more that will result from this shift.

“While we are a country of immigrants those who immigrated to this country prior, did so with support from friends and family and not at the expense of taxpayers. This problem is unsustainable and why I’ve echoed countless times that our immigration system needs to be fixed once and for all or else this problem will have no end in sight,” stated County Executive Day.