New York City Launches $10 Million Program to Renovate Distressed Housing for Homeless Residents

NEW YORK — On Thursday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced “Unlocking Doors“a new program that will invest up to $10 million to renovate distressed rent stabilized housing and then connect homeless New Yorkers with access to those homes.

Through this pilot program, the City will provide up to $25,000 for needed repairs to each of the 400 rent-stabilized homes that are currently vacant and unavailable for rent. The City will then match the rehabbed apartments to homes with City Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) vouchers for their use.

“Our administration is ‘opening doors’ and giving New Yorkers the key not only to a new home, but also to a brighter, safer and more prosperous future,” said Mayor Adams. “Since we launched ‘Housing Our Neighbors’ last year, providing New Yorkers with safe, affordable, high-quality housing has been the lodestar of this administration. And with this innovative program, we’re doing exactly that while addressing two major challenges at the same time: adding a much-needed affordable housing supply to the market and connecting some of the lowest-income New Yorkers living in shelters with high-quality housing, permanent housing.”

As the city faces a severe housing shortage, “Unlocking Doors” builds on the key initiatives of the plan “Housing Our Neighbors” from Mayor Adams by focusing on identifying creative ways to add new housing in New York City. The shortage of available apartments is particularly acute in more affordable housing, with less than one percent of apartments with requested rents under $1,500 available.

Through this pilot program, which will begin accepting applications this summer, the City will target the small number of rent-stabilized apartments that have been chronically vacant and need significant repairs to become safe and livable. The program will incentivize landlords with very low-rent apartments to make repairs, ensure the apartment is safe to occupy, and then rent it to a homeless New Yorker with a CityFHEPS voucher.

New Yorkers moving into the renovated units will receive a two-year lease at the existing stabilized monthly rent. They will then be able to use their CityFHEPS coupon to pay up to one-third of their income toward rent, with the city paying the remaining balance.

“In the midst of this housing crisis, we must unlock every opportunity to create safe, quality and affordable housing,” said New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr. “Through ‘Unlocking Doors‘, we are sprucing up and preparing urgently needed rent-stabilized apartments ready to move in for those who need it most desperately, so we can provide life-changing stability and security to 400 homeless households.”

Landlords applying to join the pilot program will need to show that their apartment is chronically vacant and has been registered with the New York State Homes and Communities Renewal (NYS HCR) as continuously vacant, that the rent for the apartment does not exceed the program’s specific rent thresholds, and that they will sign a rent stabilized agreement with the CityFHEPS voucher holder.

While exact eligibility criteria, including affordability levels, will be determined through regulation, this pilot program will give priority to units with the lowest stabilized rents, or around $1,200 per month for a one-bedroom apartment. Once the repairs are complete, HPD will confirm that the building and apartment meet CityFHEPS housing quality standards, and the New York City Human Resources Administration will reimburse owners for qualifying repair expenses up to $25,000 per unit after an eligible New Yorker with a CityFHEPS voucher moves in.

“Addressing the city’s housing crisis will require a comprehensive toolkit that includes policies to increase production and address the needs of vulnerable renters,” said James Whelan, president of the New York Real Estate Board. “We applaud Mayor Adams and his administration for coming up with creative solutions that seek to address the need to renovate and maintain much-needed housing for voucher holders.”