Mamdani defended his turnaround

By Josephine Stratman
New York Daily News

(New York Daily News) Mayor Zohran Mamdani defended his about-face on New York City’s costly rental voucher program on Wednesday, arguing the city’s dire financial situation makes it impossible to expand the program as he’d planned.

The mayor’s administration late Tuesday moved to prolong a legal fight over the taxpayer-funded program, CityFHEPS, appealing a court ruling that required the city to expand eligibility for it.

“If the city were to drop its appeal, we are speaking about an expansion that would then cost over $4 billion in the next few years alone,” Mamdani said at an unrelated press conference on Wednesday.

“I am deeply committed to ending the homelessness crisis in the city. I’m appreciative of the fact that that is a commitment shared by many New Yorkers, elected officials and beyond, and also, I’m committed to doing so in a manner that is sustainable for both the medium and the long term.”

The mayor’s turnaround on the issue highlights the difficulty between the idealism of Mamdani’s campaign and the difficulties of governance. Mamdani received intense backlash over the appeal from advocacy groups, who branded the flip-flop a betrayal.

Mamdani defended his turnaround

On the campaign trail, Mamdani vowed to expand the voucher program, which is seen as a lifeline to help people out of homelessness, and criticized then-Mayor Adams for trying to halt it. But facing a multibillion-dollar budget gap, Mamdani has reversed his stance, saying the program is too costly for the city to handle.

Mamdani blamed the current financial situation and possible $5.4 billion city budget gap on fiscal mismanagement under Adams, including the ex-mayor’s underbudgeting the voucher program by $2.3 billion over two fiscal years.

The appeal, filed Tuesday in the state Court of Appeals, draws out the already yearslong legal battle over the program and sets up the administration for a fight against the City Council. Mamdani last month said he was seeking a settlement in the suit, which seeks to ensure the program is fully expanded to nearly 50,000 more households.

Council Speaker Julie Menin said Wednesday she understood the program’s expense was an issue — but that the Council is willing to settle, and the administration’s move to duke it out further in court delays reaching one.

“We are deeply concerned about this,” Menin said of the appeal at a Council budget hearing Wednesday. “As we’ve said from the beginning, we believe the administration should drop the appeal and reach a settlement that really works to protect vulnerable New Yorkers and that also is fiscally responsible.”

Sherif Soliman, the mayor’s top budget official, who was testifying at the hearing, said the city chose to take the matter to the Court of Appeals because it hadn’t been able to reach an agreement by the court-imposed March 25 deadline.

Mamdani defended his turnaround

CityFHEPs (City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement) is among the largest rental assistance programs in the country, serving 65,000 households, per city data. Tenants who participate in the program contribute 30% of their income to rent, with the city covering the rest.

The Legal Aid Society, which brought the initial suit along with the City Council, called the administration’s arguments “unsound.”

“It is regrettable that the Mamdani Administration has chosen to continue this litigation rather than focus on ensuring that vulnerable New Yorkers can access the housing support they urgently need,” Legal Aid said in a statement.

Christine Quinn, president of shelter provider Win, said the city’s failure to settle the lawsuit is “nothing short of a betrayal” in a statement.

“Candidate Mamdani promised time and time again to drop this suit,” Quinn said. “This blunt reversal of that commitment is an abject failure when it comes to meeting the most basic needs of homeless families — the very population these vouchers are meant to serve. The City’s lack of leadership means more families stuck in shelter, more trauma, and skyrocketing shelter costs for the City. Let it be understood in no uncertain terms: We will not back down until the City has reversed course, dropped the suit, and pledged money to the CityFHEPS voucher program.”

Notes from APS Radio News

Between 2001 and 2021, the US spent at least $8 trillion on waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to The Costs of War at Brown University.

According to the Sloan School at MIT Management, the US government spent about $500 billion on financial bailouts.