While Families Fight to Keep Their Vouchers, the City Just Launched a Program to Save the Buildings They Live In

On June 17, the City Council held an oversight hearing on the Emergency Housing Voucher program. More than 5,100 NYCHA families face losing their rental assistance by November. The agencies that run the program admitted they do not have enough units to house everyone. Nobody knows how many families will be displaced.

One day earlier, on June 16, HPD launched the Supportive Preservation Program. The program is designed to stabilize and preserve supportive housing buildings across New York City. These are the same buildings where many low-income, formerly homeless, and disabled New Yorkers live. They are aging. Some need major repairs. Without intervention, some will fail.

The two programs were announced independently. Neither agency referenced the other at the Council hearing. But they are addressing two sides of the same problem: vulnerable New Yorkers are at risk of losing stable housing from two different directions at once.

What the Supportive Preservation Program Does

Supportive housing combines affordable apartments with on-site social services. It houses people who are homeless, disabled, elderly, in recovery, or leaving the criminal justice system. HPD says many of these buildings have unmet financial and physical needs that require a dedicated preservation strategy to keep them viable.

The Supportive Preservation Program assigns a dedicated HPD team to each supportive housing project seeking preservation. The team assesses each building's financial and physical condition and builds a long-term plan to keep it viable. The tools HPD can offer include tax exemptions, below-market loans, and modifications to existing HPD loans to bring in conventional financing.

HPD Commissioner Dina Levy said in the program announcement: "Supportive housing is a vital resource for New Yorkers facing homelessness and other complex challenges. For those struggling with immense challenges, the Supportive Preservation Program will offer an opportunity to live more stable and dignified lives in homes that are safe and affordable."

The NYC 15/15 Connection

HPD also announced a new RFP tied to the program that would expand eligibility for NYC 15/15 rental assistance to supportive housing projects seeking to preserve or rehabilitate existing buildings. NYC 15/15 is the city's existing supportive housing program, which funds both the apartment and the social services in the same building.

The new RFP is limited to projects that already have city or state-administered supportive service contracts. It is not a broad expansion. But for buildings that qualify, it provides a stable revenue source to support long-term operations.

The Two Sides of the Crisis

What This Means for East New York

The SPP addresses the supply side of a broader housing equation: keeping existing supportive buildings financially stable and physically sound. If the city loses supportive housing units while simultaneously trying to house thousands of displaced EHV families, the pressure on its remaining shelter and housing resources grows. The SPP, if it works, limits one side of that pressure.

Tierra Labrada, Director of Policy at the Supportive Housing Network of New York, said: "Supportive housing cannot focus solely on new development. To fulfill its promise of safe and stable housing, we must also preserve existing buildings, modernize aging infrastructure, and ensure tenants can age in place with dignity."

The Gap Between the Two

The SPP and the EHV crisis are not the same program and do not solve the same problem. The SPP preserves existing supportive housing buildings. The EHV crisis involves families who are housed in the private rental market and may be displaced when their subsidies end. These are different populations, different agencies, and different solutions.

What connects them is this: both programs serve overlapping populations of vulnerable New Yorkers at risk of losing stable housing. The SPP addresses the physical and financial stability of the buildings. The EHV crisis addresses whether families can afford to stay in their apartments. The SPP does not solve the EHV problem. The EHV programs do not solve the building preservation problem. Both have to work.

East New York Times will continue to cover both. If you live in supportive housing in East New York and want to share how building conditions affect your daily life, email us at info@eastnewyorktimes.com.