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New York City Council
Procedure for determining that a dwelling unit is habitable for the purposes of the CityFHEPS program
Read summaries and jump into the video at the segment start.
Council staff welcome attendees to the Committee on General Welfare hearing, ask phones to be silenced, explain appearance cards, and instruct the public not to approach the dais. The chair is then invited to begin.
Chair Crystal Hudson welcomes attendees to the hearing on the City Family Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement, known as CityFHEPS. She introduces herself and states her pronouns.
Hudson describes New York City's intertwined affordable housing and homelessness crises, citing 96,528 people in shelters in July 2026, including 30,824 children. She argues the true number of unhoused New Yorkers is likely in the hundreds of thousands.
Hudson says shelter is not enough and explains CityFHEPS helps New Yorkers move into and maintain permanent housing. She notes the program helped 123,762 individuals from 2018 to March 2025 and that its budget grows to $1.97 billion in fiscal year 2027.
Hudson explains applicants and landlords face pain points accessing CityFHEPS. She previews Intros 98, 100, 101, 641, and T2026-1424, covering inspections, lease-up data, response times, payment timing, and a landlord portal.
Hudson thanks committee staff and her own staff for their work on the hearing. She then hands the proceeding to committee counsel to administer the oath to the administration witnesses.
Committee staff administer the truth affirmation to witnesses from the mayoral administration. The witnesses affirm and are asked to state their names for the record.
Erin Dalton identifies herself as Commissioner of the Department of Social Services. She introduces HRA Administrator Scott French and Executive Deputy Commissioner Andrea Reed.
Dalton thanks the committee for the hearing and says DSS appreciates constructive dialogue on legislation. She notes the agency looks forward to continuing conversations with bill sponsors.
Dalton says CityFHEPS was established in November 2018 and now serves more than 71,000 households and 162,000 New Yorkers. She calls it part of a continuum of care and urges continued federal and state investment.
Dalton says the bills aim to improve timeliness, customer service, and transparency, which align with administration goals. She describes DSS moves to single staff review, supervisory approval, and streamlined eligibility focus to reduce return packages.
Dalton says Intro 98 would require the Commissioner of Social Services to deem a dwelling habitable before approving CityFHEPS rental assistance. She shares the goal of safe housing but says DSS opposes some specific requirements and has operated a nine-month pilot.
Dalton explains the pilot uses provider inspections for most units and HRA inspectors for difficult units, with virtual re-inspections via WhatsApp or FaceTime. She warns Intro 98 as drafted could limit flexibility, increase burden, and require more HRA inspectors.
Dalton says Intro 100 would require annual reporting on average time to secure housing after receiving a voucher. She supports transparency but wants further discussion on metric interpretation and notes factors like low vacancy rates and geographic constraints.
Dalton says Intro 101 would require DSS to respond to CityFHEPS applications within 15 days. She reports average processing time improved from 28 days to 24.8 days and says a client-facing Access HRA portal update coming in October will improve transparency.
Dalton says Intro 641 would require payments no later than seven days before the month to which they apply. DSS currently issues payment on the 26th, with EFT within 24 hours and paper checks around the first; state shelter allowance payments are split and outside DSS control.
Dalton says DSS agrees with providing landlords a user-friendly portal and has already launched ServiceNow, the NYC Landlord Portal, and Apartment Offers Portal. She says the bill's January 2027 deadline is not feasible and more lead time is needed.
Dalton says DSS supports the bills' intentions to improve timeliness, customer service, and transparency. She thanks the council for its leadership and welcomes questions.
Hudson thanks Dalton and notes Council Members Nurse, Ung, and Morano have joined. She turns the floor to Council Member Morano for remarks on his legislation.
Morano thanks Chair Hudson and describes his bill as a response to landlord and tenant complaints about missing checks, wrong addresses, paperwork errors, and months of unpaid rent. He says reliable city payments are needed so landlords accept vouchers.
Hudson acknowledges Council Members Brewer and Wilson have joined. She turns the floor to Council Member Brewer for remarks on her legislation.
Brewer says CityFHEPS is important and can save up to $635 million in shelter costs. She explains Intros 98, 100, and 101 on inspections, lease-up reporting, and 15-day responses, thanks advocates and staff, and Hudson notes recent op-eds.
Hudson begins questions on Intro 98 and asks DSS to walk through its current habitability inspection process. Dalton defers to Executive Deputy Commissioner Andrea Reed.
Reed describes a two-step process: a pre-clearance review of housing and building code violations across HPD, DOB, FDNY, and Finance, followed by a physical or video walkthrough. Providers conduct most inspections, while HRA handles units most likely to fail.
Hudson asks how long it takes to schedule a walkthrough and what percentage of unit inspections fail. Reed says inspections are scheduled within two to three weeks and about 50% of HRA inspections fail, with about two inspections before approval.
Dalton says HRA conducted about 8,509 inspections in calendar year 2025 and roughly 44% failed. She notes HRA does about one-third of all inspections, takes harder units, and the system does not collect failure data for provider inspections.
Hudson asks about the anticipated cost of pre-qualified third-party inspectors for new buildings. Scott French says costs are still being developed with HPD. Hudson also asks whether virtual inspections are limited to video tools like WhatsApp and FaceTime; French confirms live walkthroughs.
Hudson asks what drove the improvement from 28 days to 24.8 days for application approval. Dalton and Reed explain reorganization, a shift from three-touch to two-touch review, four eligibility pillars, longer document validity, and better supervisor comments.
Hudson praises the progress and asks when the streamlining and reorganization started. Reed and French say units were integrated about a year ago, with many changes rolling out over the past six months.
Hudson asks how much additional time DSS needs to implement the landlord portal bill's January 2027 requirements. Scott French says specific timelines can follow, but enhancements are underway and some will roll out in the first quarter of 2027.
Hudson asks for the median time between failed inspection and re-inspection and average walkthroughs before approval. Dalton says DSS does not collect re-inspection data and reports an average of 1.7 inspections from start to finish for HRA-administered inspections.
Morano notes ServiceNow and two landlord portals launched in 2016 and 2023 and asks how many systems a landlord must use. Reed says landlords use the offer system and landlord portal separately, and cannot yet see inspections, paperwork, payments, and complaints in one place.
Morano asks if DSS is developing systems with one unified strategy or building new solutions piecemeal. Scott French says the systems grew up separately but are now being interfaced and unified toward a single entry point; Morano presses for a committed date, and Dalton says DSS will follow up.
Brewer asks what challenges remain in speeding up inspections and how the pilot handles minor versus major repairs. Dalton says the pilot differentiates minor faults fixed with photos or video from major issues requiring re-inspection, and the agency plans system-wide rollout next year.
Brewer asks about roughly 2,000 people losing federal emergency housing vouchers. Scott French says a whole-of-administration approach with HPD and NYCHA is underway, state HAVP vouchers are coming, and the timeline rolls into the end of December.
Wilson asks what hurdles prevent DSS from meeting Intro 101's 15-day response requirement, given processing is just under 25 days. Dalton cites the October Access HRA status portal; French says applications with no back-and-forth are close to 15 days, but many still require returns.
Hudson asks for the most common reasons units fail habitability inspections. Dalton lists water temperature failures at about 41%, electrical outlet deficiencies at 33%, missing apartment numbers and window guard violations near 19%, refrigerator temperature failures at 18%, and other issues.
Hudson cites a state comptroller report finding DSS approved units with hazardous violations and asks how recordkeeping allowed a new client to move into a unit another client transferred out of. Dalton disputes parts of the report and cites the rental assistance integrity unit as a backstop.
Hudson asks how many failing inspections are major versus minor and how many apartments the pilot has covered. French and Reed say specifics will follow, but the pilot allows expedited re-inspection for five or fewer minor defects and has reduced average inspections from 2.2 to 1.7.
Hudson asks about challenges with landlords who do not make repairs and whether there is a process to stop using repeat offenders. French says there is no formal removal process yet, but DSS is looking at assessment and escalation, including for fraud and criminality.
Hudson asks about median lease-up time from shopping letter to move-in. Dalton provides averages: 244 days in 2024, 221 in 2025, and 236 year-to-date in 2026, and notes application processing is about 21 days in community and 31 days in shelter.
Hudson asks what DSS is doing to close the lease-up gap and how CityFHEPS compares with one-time assistance. French says CityFHEPS is a voucher while SOTA is not, and recertification has about 90% retention with a four-month renewal window.
Hudson asks whether Intro 100 reporting would capture delays from the reinstated rent reasonableness policy. French says the reporting would cover shopping letter to move-out, acknowledges the policy added delays, and says rent-regulated unit reviews will shift to after move-in to mitigate impact.
Hudson asks about time from shopping letter to initial submission and processing times for shelter versus community applicants. DSS lacks some data but reports 28 days average overall, 31 days for shelter, and 21 days for community, and will assess further disaggregation.
Hudson asks what causes package rejections. French says outright denials are rare and most issues are returns for corrections, often due to document errors or income ineligibility, and says DSS can look at publishing return reasons.
Hudson asks what percentage of applications are returned for correction and whether documents go stale during review. DSS says it will follow up on percentages and explains document validity was extended from four to six months and is frozen at application submission.
Hudson asks what steps DSS takes before informing applicants of approval, denial, or needed corrections. Reed explains biweekly case manager contact and an October Access HRA portal update that will show real-time application status and client dependencies.
Hudson asks how shopping letters are renewed after six months and whether the six-month duration is necessary. Reed says letters are automatically renewed if eligibility continues; French says the six-month checkpoint reconfirms income and baseline eligibility.
Hudson asks how long DSS takes to reprocess corrected applications and whether Q-Rent lacks core functionality for shelter housing coordinators. French says reprocessing data will be checked; Reed says the current system allows multiple search points and robust application submission.
Hudson says the committee will move on to Intro 641 and checks whether colleagues have additional questions. She recognizes Council Member Brewer.
Brewer asks how often shopping letters expire and whether constituent panic reflects a small or large problem. Scott French says the six-month letter is automatically renewed if eligibility continues and DSS wants to understand cases where constituents experience problems.
Brewer asks whether DSS is finding new owners willing to rent to voucher holders or relying on the same landlords. French says DSS is always trying to expand the landlord universe and can follow up with data on new participating owners.
Morano asks whether landlords can receive only part of the total subsidy at the beginning of the month because the state pays shelter allowance in two installments. Dalton confirms this and Reed explains the landlord portal shows subsidy and shelter allowance portions, with a possible missed-payment distinction to be confirmed.
Morano asks whether DSS tracks additional shelter nights caused by administrative delays and how many households have an identified apartment but await final approval. French says DSS does not have that data now and will look into it, including possible shelter cost estimates.
Hudson asks about median time between correction notification and apartment registration, and the breakdown of corporate, professional, small, and owner-occupant landlords. French says DSS does not capture those details and will follow up.
Hudson asks what support is available to landlords who speak languages other than English. Reed says providers have bilingual staff and interpretation contracts, but Dalton confirms landlord forms are only in English while client-facing forms are available in many languages.
Hudson asks how landlords submit complaints and what pain points DSS hears. Reed says landlords can use the landlord portal and a new DSS web-based form, and cites timeliness, transparency, and payment types as common concerns.
Hudson shares a constituent landlord story in which a brownstone owner exited the CityFHEPS program because inspections and administrative issues were too difficult, yet rented to the tenant outside the program. She says better systems could help more people secure safe housing.
Hudson asks whether it is possible to get a list of landlords receiving CityFHEPS payments. French says DSS will consult general counsel and get back to her about what can be provided.
Hudson thanks the DSS witnesses, acknowledges the difficulty of their work, and says she hopes the council and agencies can improve the system together. The agency panel is then excused.
Hudson opens public testimony, reminds attendees of decorum, and explains that witnesses must fill out appearance cards and will have two minutes to speak. She lists the bill numbers and gives instructions for submitting written testimony.
Judita Francis, a mother living in a Volunteers of America shelter, says she has been in the DHS system for 602 days and secured an apartment in April 2026 but still awaits final approval. She describes HRA errors and administrative delays causing anxiety and fatigue.
Akira Morris, a Family Homeless Coalition member, says CityFHEPS helped her move into an apartment but delays at HRA and Homebase almost caused her to lose it. She describes acting as the middleman between her landlord and agencies and urges support for the reforms.
Elizabeth Mackey, a CityFHEPS voucher holder and former ACS worker, says the city failed to pay her landlord for five months and she is now facing court. She asks the council to pass the bills and make DSS and HRA accountable.
Diana Ramos of Safety Net Activists describes moving into an apartment with broken outlets, pests, refrigerator failure, plumbing problems, and mice. She says her transfer voucher is expiring and landlords do not want CityFHEPS because payments are late.
Hudson asks Francis about her apartment status after securing it in April. Francis says her housing specialist had to review the apartment again, the bathroom lacked a refrigerator and stove, and she is still waiting for checks after repeated rent reviews.
Hudson asks Morris why she did not lose the apartment despite the delays. Morris says she constantly emailed Homebase and visited HRA almost daily to check on payments and status, acting as the middleman herself.
Hudson asks Ramos how she submitted her lease renewal. Ramos says she emailed pictures but had no way to upload a new lease to HRA, and her rent was initially not updated, causing stress and payment issues.
Ramos describes lost furniture from bugs and mice, inability to shower reliably, a plumber who ran from her dog, and a building that feels dangerous. She says she wants to move to a one-bedroom but the transfer process is stuck.
Hudson asks Mackey about the five months her landlord has not been paid. Mackey says Homebase is a bottleneck, she does not know whether the city or landlord is at fault, and she wants tenants to see the same portal information as landlords.
Hudson thanks the public witnesses and calls the next panel: Maritza Rico, Eric Lee, Jade Vasquez, Kathy Batista, and Kelvin Wallace. Panelists are directed to begin on the left.
Cathy Batista, Chief Program Officer at Anthos Home, says her organization has helped nearly 1,500 New Yorkers move with vouchers since 2023. She supports Intros 98, 100, 101, and 641, saying vouchers cost far less than shelter but administrative errors and delays block families.
Jade Vasquez of Win says 97,000 people sleep in city shelters, 70% in families with children, and average family shelter stays rose from 372 to 415 days. She supports Intros 98, 100, and 101 to speed inspections, track lease-up times, and require 15-day processing.
Maritza Rico of New Destiny Housing says domestic violence is a leading cause of family homelessness and warns that NYCHA emergency housing vouchers are at risk when funding runs out in November. She supports the bills and calls for a CityFHEPS carve-out for NYCHA EHV households.
Eric Lee of Volunteers of America Greater New York says CityFHEPS applications can take two to four months and rent reasonableness delays have stretched them further. He supports the bills, suggests 10 business days for responses, and flags HPD registration bottlenecks for small landlords.
Kelvin Wallace of Anthos Home says he spent 11 months in the shelter system and 7.5 months learning how to apply for CityFHEPS amid changing case managers. He supports Council Member Brewer's 15-day response bill and says the process needs centralized standards and less guesswork.
Hudson calls the next panel of Jean Stevens, Helen Strom, Graham Horn, and Lauren Price. Staff ask whomever would like to begin to go ahead.
Graham Horn of New York Legal Assistance Group says he supports the bills as steps toward improving CityFHEPS administration. He shares a client who submitted three years of renewals and is now $17,000 in arrears while facing eviction, and calls for specific inspection timelines.
Helen Strom of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center says CityFHEPS improvements are sorely needed and rent reasonableness has slowed packets for months. She argues the 15-day timeframe should cover the whole process, including pre-clearance, rent review, and inspections before application submission.
Jean Stevens of the Benefits Law Project at Volunteers of Legal Service supports Intro 101 and asks the council to extend time limits to Homebase. She says Homebase can take up to 10 months to assemble CityFHEPS-to-stay applications, losing documents and failing to communicate while eviction clocks run.
Lauren Price of Brooklyn Defender Services supports the bills and says delays at Homebase and rent reasonableness cause clients to lose apartments. She also describes source-of-income discrimination and a pattern of brokers preferring voucher holders with no tenant portion.
Hudson calls the next panel: Yvonne Pena, Brandon Lloyd, Frank McMullen, and Jerry Hippolyte. She repeats the names and asks them to begin on her left.
Brandon Lloyd of URI says his organization provides shelter to 4,000 people nightly and supports Intros 101 and 641. He says administrative delays prolong shelter stays and late subsidy payments can lead to arrears and loss of housing for domestic violence survivors and others.
Jerry Hippolyte of Housing Solutions of New York says his organization serves over 7,800 New Yorkers yearly and supports Intros 98, 100, 101, and 641. He says success should be measured by keys to a home, not just a voucher in hand, and urges measuring the entire process from application to move.
Yvonne Peña of the Community Service Society presents a survey of 727 CityFHEPS applicants and renewers. She says 93% valued the program but more than half had to resubmit documents, 76% experienced source-of-income discrimination, and 25% had rental assistance stop, often leading to arrears and eviction.
Hudson thanks the witnesses and calls the next panel: Pepper, Alec Vanderbilt, and Jorge Jimenez. She tells them they can start to her left.
Alec Vanderbilt says he has been trying to get a CityFHEPS voucher for over nine months and found Homebase staff unfamiliar with required documents. He says HRA helped but he is still waiting, and describes dangerous conditions in his building.
Jorge Jimenez, a former city council worker who is now homeless, describes a concussion, lost savings, street homelessness, and losing eight apartment units. He supports Intro 101 but says the council must also address what happens before and after the voucher process.
Pepper Pavlish of Homeless Services United says the coalition represents more than 55 providers and supports Intros 98, 100, 101, 641, and T2026-1424. She calls for effective implementation to make CityFHEPS clearer, more transparent, and more efficient.
Hudson calls Frank McMullen again with no response, then moves to virtual testimony. She calls Elizabeth Schlitt and Ann Korczak, and Ann Korczak is recognized.
Ann Korczak, board president of Small Property Owners of New York, thanks Council Member Morano for Intro 1424. She says small owners lack administrative staff and a centralized portal to upload documents, manage payments, and enroll in electronic payments would reduce burdens.
Hudson calls Daniel Brown with no response and then asks if anyone present in the room or on Zoom has not testified. She invites two people to come forward and fill out forms.
Miranda DeNovo, who has lived experience of homelessness, describes helping a friend who has been homeless for over two years. She says a referral was lost, a shopping letter promised within two weeks has not arrived after six, and the case was passed between case managers.
Calvin Michael says he was homeless for seven years and spent three in the shelter system, but had a good experience with CityFHEPS. He says he currently owes rent because CityFHEPS underpaid his landlord and believes the program works and can improve.
Hudson thanks Michael and DeNovo, agrees CityFHEPS is a great program that needs to work better, and asks DeNovo about case manager turnover. DeNovo says she does not know why but a supervisor eventually helped move the case forward.
Hudson calls Elizabeth Schlitt again for virtual testimony. Council staff prompt her to begin.
Elizabeth Schlitt, a domestic violence survivor, asks the council to protect NYCHA EHV households with a CityFHEPS lifeline. She describes how abusers isolate survivors and says housing protection must be fast to keep survivors safe.
Hudson asks if anyone else wishes to testify and, seeing no one, notes that written testimony may be submitted to the record for 72 hours after the hearing by emailing testimony@council.nyc.gov.
Hudson reiterates that CityFHEPS is a great program that needs more funding and better administration. She thanks everyone for testifying, acknowledges those who attended the morning rally, and adjourns the hearing.