Are housing vouchers a viable solution for asylum seekers in NYC? Activists say yes.

New York City homeless and immigration advocates have called for the city to address its growing community of asylum seekers using an untested but potentially cheaper housing method that looks outside the shelter system — housing vouchers.

An increase in asylum seekers in the Big Apple has resulted in an overwhelmed shelter system, with over 100,000 newcomers arriving in NYC in just the past year.

While some asylum seekers arrived at the Roosevelt Hotel — which became the de facto epicenter for migrants in NYC this year — others were transported to hotels across upstate, from the Hudson Valley to Rochester in the Finger Lakes.

Still, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said last year that the city is past its breaking point.

In response, New York City put several policies in place to lessen the strain on its shelter system, including shortening shelter stay limits and extending the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (cityFHEPS) program, a rental assistance initiative to help people find and keep housing across the state.

But immigration advocates say a better solution is being ignored.

The New York Immigrant Coalition (NYIC) and Women in Need (Win), both nonprofits currently working to address homelessness in asylum seekers, are at the forefront of proposing housing vouchers to asylum seekers, arguing that option could save the city billions in housing costs.

Their joint report, released in August, argues that providing asylum seekers with permanent housing would help the city save nearly $3 billion annually.

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Shelter crowding a longtime tension point in NYC

Before housing thousands of asylum seekers became a crisis in New York, organizations were already pushing for changes to the shelter system.

Chris Quinn, President and CEO of Win, which helps provide shelter and supportive housing for families in NYC, said in recent years, she has seen a significant number of undocumented individuals and families remain in shelters.

“They were the ones who stayed in shelter the longest because they didn’t have access to housing or jobs,” Quinn said.

Today, there are 270 asylum seeking families and 700 children receiving help from Win, Quinn said.

The immigrant community, however, has not historically been in the shelter system, said Murad Awawdeh, executive director of NYIC, an advocacy and policy organization. The difference now lies with newcomers not always having a familial or community connection when arriving.

Now, new waves of asylum seekers have further showcased the faults in the shelter system and have spurred conversations of reform.

Report argues for housing voucher solution. What are highlights?

At the time of the Win report, there were nearly 60,000 asylum seekers in city-run facilities — as of October, that number has increased to almost 65,000.

Housing vouchers, offered to families who are low-income, seniors, or people with disabilities, can pay for all or part of the rent.

The report states that offering housing subsidies, or housing vouchers, “to households regardless of immigration status would increase capacity in shelters, making it easier and less expensive for New York to care for homeless families.”

It would cost $72 a night to house newcomers through CityFHEPS, a rental assistance program that provides housing vouchers, according to the report, compared to the average of $383 a night to shelter families in hotels. In a public briefing in early August, Mayor Adams stated there were more than 25,600 total households in the city’s care, costing $3.6 billion to house a year.

“Getting people out of shelter and into permanent housing is not only the right thing to do, it is the cost efficient thing to do,” Awadeh said.

NYIC and Win are arguing that with housing vouchers, it would only cost $673 million to house those households and would save the city $2.9 billion per year.

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Would a voucher program be legal in New York?

While advocates are pushing for vouchers as an alternative to the shelter system, the city questioned the voucher idea's legality.

Federal law bars unauthorized noncitizens from receiving most state and locally funded benefits, a City Council spokesperson said.

The law, however, gives states the authority to make noncitizens eligible for any benefits paid with state or local funds.

State legislation would have to be passed before the city could take any action, according to City Council.

Extending benefits is not a new concept to New York, said Ernie Collette, supervising attorney of the immigration law project at Mobilization for Justice, a nonprofit organization providing civil legal services for low- and zero-income individuals in NYC.

Earlier this year, the state, amended its rules around immigrant eligibility for public benefits. They labeled individuals as permanently residing under color of law (PRUCOL), which allows them to access safety net assistance like SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, or HEAP, the Home Energy Assistance Program.

PRUCOL is not an immigration status, and individuals can qualify for PRUCOL when they have pending applications for lawfully present status.

“The state expanded eligibility for other existing immigrant groups including asylees, in order to be able to meet the needs and the  demand of the number of individuals that seek assistance,” Colette said. “If the city and the state can work on these measures, and they have potentially the legal right to be able to work on these other measures too. They should do all they can to review and look into it.”

Some housing vouchers exist in NYC. Who's eligible?

CityFHEPS provides housing vouchers and helps individuals and families find and keep rental housing, and many New Yorkers are already eligible for that kind of assistance.

Currently, asylum seekers are not eligible for housing vouchers.

Criteria for qualifying for CityFHEPS if a person is already living in a HRA or DHS shelter include:

• Having a gross income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.

• Being on Cash Assistance, if eligible.

• Not qualifying for any other rental assistance program.

In June, Adams ended the 90-day rule, which required those experiencing street homelessness to receive services from a DHS contracted provider for 90 days before being eligible for  CityFHEPS.

Later, in September, Adams made CityFHEPS vouchers available to use across the state.

Expanding those vouchers to asylum seekers won't solve the overall housing crisis in New York City, a City Hall spokesperson said.

Thousands of New York families in shelters are already eligible for that program, and adding thousands more to the list would slow down the search for housing for all applicants.

“This would make it harder for New Yorkers in shelter to move into permanent housing at a time when there are 10,000 families in shelter that are eligible for CityFHEPS,” the city said in a statement.

Advocates are pushing for reform for the program and are urging the city to “do what’s right.”

“The city voucher program is not perfect,” Awadeh said, “but it’s a good start.”

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NYC asylum seekers: Are housing vouchers key to fixing migrant crisis?