Safe at home

On a recent brisk autumn night, there were 45,910 New Yorkers, including 14,887 children, sleeping in city homeless shelters. When eviction protections lapse — now set to happen in cold, cold January — those numbers, already unacceptably high, could increase sharply, especially if COVID continues to upend the city’s recovery.

Fortunately, Gov. Hochul has just signed a bill that offers New York’s best near-term chance to prevent such a cataclysm by increasing the value of the state’s rental-assistance vouchers. Good for her, and for Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal and Sen. Brian Kavanagh for leading the charge for change.

The state’s Family Homelessness and Eviction Protection Supplement, for those experiencing homelessness or on the brink of eviction, has an unfortunate acronym, FHEPS. But the worst thing about it is that it only covers a maximum 85% of federally determined fair market rent, which means many families eligible for the aid can’t use it to find permanent housing, particularly in uber-expensive New York City. (Under the old law, a family of four seeking a two-bedroom would qualify for about $1,722 a month in voucher aid.)

The Kavanagh-Rosenthal legislation raises that cap to 100% of fair-market rent, giving far more families a legitimate shot at covering the cost of housing — and likely sparing the taxpayers the $158 per night, or nearly $5,000 a month, that it costs to stay in a shelter (and even more to stay in a hotel converted for the use of homeless families). Dimes of prevention are worth dollars of cure.

As it wakes up to a smarter way to fend off homelessness, the state joins New York City, which this year under Speaker Corey Johnson and with the advocacy of former Speaker Chris Quinn boosted the value of its own vouchers. All that remains is for the federal government to step up and, following the lead of Rep. Ritchie Torres, ensure its Section 8 housing assistance reaches all families who qualify, rather than the mere quarter who are now lucky enough to collect.