The New York City Council announced Wednesday it filed court papers in a bid to join a lawsuit against Mayor Eric Adams' administration over housing vouchers.
The Council's motion, which was filed in the New York State Supreme Court, aims to add the Legislature as a petitioner in a class-action lawsuit filed against Mayor Adams earlier this month by the Legal Aid Society and four people on behalf of low-income New Yorkers who stand to benefit from an expansion of the city's housing voucher programs or CityFHEPS.
In the lawsuit, Adams is being accused of failing to implement a series of new housing laws aimed at reducing homelessness.
Which Housing Laws Are at Issue?
Last year, in response to the city's unprecedented shelter capacity crisis, the Council passed a series of reform laws that expand eligibility for housing vouchers. This meant people facing eviction would be given housing vouchers even if they did not enter the shelter system and stayed there for at least 90 days. The law also expands the package by making tenants eligible for the vouchers if they receive a demand for unpaid rent from their landlord.
Additionally, the package would bar landlords from deducting the cost of unpaid utility bills from a housing voucher.
The legislation went into effect in January, nearly half a year after council members overrode Adams' veto against the bill. When Adams vetoed the changes in June 2023, he argued that the bill would cost the city $17 billion and said the price tag was impossible due to the ongoing migrant crisis.
"His refusal not only deprives New Yorkers of housing benefits to which they are entitled under the law; it usurps the powers of the Council, a co-equal branch of city government, and it upends the separation of powers enshrined in the City Charter," court papers filed by the Council state. "What he could not secure through the Charter-established process, the mayor is now attempting to achieve by unlawfully abdicating his duties."
Shortly before the laws went into effect, Adams told lawmakers he refused to implement them and added that they are welcome to take him to court.
