On Monday, January 27, Policy and Advocacy Associate Juan Diaz submitted testimony to the New York City Council Subcommittee on General Welfare for an Oversight Hearing on the administration of CityFHEPS. On behalf of CCC, the testimony encouraged specific investments to improve access, reduce wait times for families in need of housing security and eventually reduce unnecessary shelter, social services prevention, and housing court costs. 

Read the testimony below.

Testimony of Juan Diaz
Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York
Submitted to The New York City Council Subcommittee on General Welfare
Oversight – Administration of CityFHEPS Program
January 27th, 2025 

Thank you, Chair Ayala, and members of the Committees on Social Welfare for the opportunity to submit testimony at this hearing regarding the Administration of CityFHEPS Program. 

Since 1944, Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York has served as an independent, multi- issue child advocacy organization. CCC does not accept or receive public resources, provide direct services, or represent a sector or workforce; our priority is improving outcomes for children and families through civic engagement, research, and advocacy. We document the facts, engage, and mobilize New Yorkers, and advocate for solutions to ensure that every New York child is healthy, housed, educated, and safe. 

CCC is a steering committee member of the Family Homeless Coalition (FHC), a coalition comprised of 20 organizations representing service and housing providers, children’s advocacy organizations, and people with lived experience with family homelessness. We are united by the goal of preventing family homelessness, improving the well-being of children and families in shelter, and supporting the long-term stability of families with children who leave shelter. 

The recent CCC’s Keep Track of New York City Children Book revealed that in 2023, 30% of NYC renters pay at least half of their income towards rent – One in three renter households with children are living in overcrowded conditions – there were more than 12,000 residential evictions and more than 46,600 children reside in the NYC shelter system. As such, we cannot underscore the value of housing vouchers like CityFHEPS. 

We value the Department of Social Services’ efforts to improve CityFHEPS application approvals by providing training to human services staff, adding CityFHEPS renewals to be submitted via ACCESS HRA and expediting shelter relocations. However, more investments and programmatic reforms are imperative to ensure that more households receive housing assistance in a timely manner.  

Additionally, with the recently announced funding freeze and imminent cuts to public benefits grants at the federal level, the City Administration should significantly invest in resources like CityFHEPS rental assistance for families at shelters and to remain in the community. 

The following investments can improve access to CityFHEPS assistance, reduce waiting times for families in need of housing security and eventually reduce unnecessary shelter, social services prevention and housing court costs. 

• Implement and fund the CityFHEPS expansion Which would significantly remove administrative and eligibility barriers like shelter history; and would expedite access to housing support for families in the community and in shelters, regardless of immigration status. Last year, many of the 12,000 housing court evictions could have been prevented with CityFHEPS assistance, as households without shelter history are currently not eligible for CityFHEPS assistance. 

• Increase the Budget for Homebase by $37.9 million to a total of $100 million In recent years, Homebase providers have taken on tremendous increases in caseload as well as an ever-expanding set of responsibilities, including submitting CityFHEPS applications, renewals, transfer requests and rent portion adjustment requests. This has not been accompanied by funding levels to match the new post-Covid reality. Additionally, Homebase providers also provide emergency rental assistance for clients in need of CityFHEPS to stay applications.   

Administrative reforms 

• Reduce single issue time frame the current single issue time frame is 30 days but often the process for applying and getting the voucher is longer and requires the single issue to be resubmitted. We recommend a 90-day time frame 

• Make the application process more accessible the application packet forms should be readable/fillable PDF forms that can be signed electronically and emailed back, while still allowing for a paper process. 

• Reduce CityFHEPS application paperwork amount Consider reducing the amount of paperwork to submit a CityFHEPS packet. Most of the information in each application packet is repetitive. Currently, case managers must complete and submit large packets, in some cases over 50 pages. 

Emergency Assistance Funding 

• Increase public benefits grants funding with the looming Federal level budget cuts to essential programs like housing, cash and shelter allowance, it is imperative for the City Administration to enhance funding to offset imminent cuts at the Federal level.  

• Increase rental assistance funding many households must apply for emergency rental assistance (One Shot Deals) to reduce their rental arrears, before they can apply for CityFHEPS to preserve their apartment. The Federal level budget cuts will have a severe impact in emergency rental assistance for families facing evictions. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify. We look forward to collectively working to reduce administrative barriers and improving CityFHEPS rental assistance for vulnerable families with children.