Mamdani expands CityFHEPS program in final $125B budget

After months of protests about delays, freshman Mayor Zohran Mamdani passed his first city budget at $125.8 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2027. The budget passage has been praised by many advocates for finally expanding the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) program.

“For too long, New York City had relied on budgeting tricks instead of budgeting honestly. Costs were hidden, fiscal cliffs were ignored, [and] difficult decisions were deferred for someone else to make. We chose a different path,” said Mamdani at a press conference on June 30. “Fourteen weeks later, after long nights and painstaking work, we presented an executive budget that brought that $12 billion gap down to zero. We balanced the budget without asking working New Yorkers to shoulder the burden once again.”

Mamdani said the budget makes historic investments in affordable housing by expanding CityFHEPS rental assistance, first created in 2018 to prevent evictions and serve as a pathway to stable housing for those living in shelters. The city is also creating a new $175 million housing voucher program for New Yorkers in need.

In 2023, the City Council attempted to pass the CityFHEPS expansion bills. Former Mayor Eric Adams opted to veto the bills and the City Council chose to override his veto. At the time, the argument over the bills stemmed from the influx of asylum seekers into the city that put a substantial strain on the city’s resources. This devolved into litigation in 2024, making it all the way to the New York State Supreme Court, where a judge sided with advocates and lawmakers. Adams appealed the case in 2025. On the campaign trail, Mamdani vowed to drop the lawsuit and implement the CityFHEPS expansion, but his office filed for an appeal to the lawsuit in April, much to the dismay of housing advocates.

City Councilmember Pierina Sanchez sponsored the new rental assistance bill (Introduction 966). The bill states that to be eligible for the program, households would need to have a total income that does not exceed 50% of the area median income (AMI) and meet additional eligibility requirements based on the type of shelter or housing in which they reside.

“[The] FY27 budget passage represents a historic win for vulnerable New Yorkers: expanding access to housing vouchers responsibly, controlling costs, and putting the city on a stronger path away from costly shelter reliance and toward permanent homes,” said Sanchez, who chairs the Committee on Housing and Buildings. “With a cumulative $300 million committed across the FY27 and FY28 City Budgets, we will deliver relief to tens of thousands of New Yorkers.”

The budget also invests in mobile mental health treatment and crisis-to-care programs, including Crisis Respite Centers; increased funding for the city’s commission on Human Rights and immigration legal services; baseline funding for parks and a new pilot program to fix up playgrounds and basketball courts; expansions of the NYC Kids RISE college savings account program; and the Fair Fares program.

The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) fought for a range of programs to support immigrant New Yorkers, and applauded the inclusion of several of its priorities in this deal, including immigration legal services, access to healthcare, housing support, language access, and investments for immigrant children in public schools.

“This deal shows significant and vital investments toward building a New York City that works for every person who calls it home,” said Murad Awawdeh, NYIC president and CEO, in a statement. “As Trump continues to dismantle legal protections for immigrant New Yorkers, including Temporary Protected Status, increased funding for immigration legal services has never been more critical. The critical investments in language access, naturalization programs, healthcare access, housing, and safety for our kids in schools provide opportunities for New York families to fully participate in the vibrant life of our city.”

At the last minute, the budget deal also eliminated previously announced funding for 580 new police officers.

“For years, survivors of Rikers, impacted families, and our broad-based coalition have fought to secure crucial funding for public health and community safety,” said the Campaign to Close Rikers in a statement. “Finally, we’ve seen willingness from both City Hall and the City Council to make long-term investments in some of these proven solutions, like Intensive Mobile Treatment teams, Assertive Community Treatment teams, and Crisis Respite Centers.”

However, not everyone was happy with the budget. Councilmember Althea Stevens was the only Democrat to vote “no” on it. In an op-ed published on July 1, she explained that although doing so was largely “symbolic,” she wanted to draw attention to the needs of her district in the Bronx, which is a Black and Brown community plagued by “poverty, unemployment, housing instability, and gun violence.”