Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Erie County Legislature voted unanimously on Thursday on a resolution as amended, calling for state regulations to prevent any residents from New York City from using "an unfair advantage of publicly funded housing assistance in Erie County."
The Republican Caucus of the Erie County Legislature took issue with a policy enacted last week by NYC Mayor Eric Adams, which allows for those who have been evicted, or are on the verge of eviction, in the city with rent vouchers through the Family Homelessness & Eviction Prevention Supplement (FHEPS) program, to use their vouchers in any county in the state outside of the five city boroughs.
The FHEPS voucher gives more than what the rental subsidies administered by the Erie County Department of Social Services (ECDSS) give, about $85-$160 a month greater than the ECDSS' voucher depending on family size. The program administers housing vouchers that range from $2,325 a month for a single individual, or $3,385 a month for a family of 4.
The Republican Caucus originally drafted a resolution on Tuesday which called upon Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz to declare a state of emergency for the county, as surrounding counties have done something identical or similar, such as Chautauqua County, which would prohibit landlords from accepting NYC-funded rent vouchers without county authorization.
Prior to their regular legislative session, Erie County legislators heard from County Attorney Jeremy Toth, who explained that they believe declaring such state of emergency is illegal and unconstitutional.
"The county attorney was here today, he gave his opinion," said Erie County Legislator John Gilmour. "He said that it would be unlawful to issue any kind of declaration of emergency, and the way to do it is to take it to court, try to sue the city, tell them to get a get a temporary restraining order to stop them from sending people up here and making it unfair on our population and our residents."
All of the legislators were in agreement with the fact that the voucher system policy proposed by the city had to be addressed. After some deliberation and a few suggested changes to the resolution originally proposed by the Republican Caucus, which included the Republican legislators trying to change the amendment again to include the state of emergency, the Erie County Legislature eventually voted for no emergency declaration and instead opted for the following:
"RESOLVED, that the Erie County Legislature calls of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) to limit the value of vouchers from New York City to match the State's rental subsidy program, prevent New York City from offering free bonus rent or other incentives to landlords, and ensure that New York City will not be allowed to expand this program or change its program rules in a way that would disadvantage Erie County households"
In addition, the resolution calls on the County Attorney to evaluate options for judicial relief to prevent unfair advantage from occurring until State action takes place to limit the value of vouchers from New York City to match the State's subsidy program.
"We're on the same page, nobody wants a bunch of homeless people to show up from New York City with $3,000 vouchers, and be able to rent any apartment in the city they want to or in the suburbs, and displace homeless people that were having a hard enough time right now trying to get housing," Legislator Gilmour notes.
Republican Legislator Frank Todaro spoke to the original resolution without the amendment, which he feels would have been better off passing as opposed to the resolution as amended.
"Our goal is to protect everyone that lives here. Other counties have already done this. I don't see anything reverting back to them. I don't see any lawsuits going back to the counties. I've been in contact with county executive from Chautauqua. He's been amazing with me on the phone. He's given me some drafts of what they've used. And their emergency order is already in power. It's working. Everyone from Monroe, Niagara County, Chautauqua, it's working, why can't we do it? That's my question."
Is the lawsuit option worth pursuing? Legislator Gilmour says yes, Legislator Todaro says otherwise.
"The problem is, time is of the essence, a lawsuit can be presented, brought up and drawn out for a long time. We need something with teeth, that's what our [original] resolution did. It had teeth to it, to tell New York City, our county executive wants, we'll put this out of the state of emergency fourth, with his powers that he does have right now. We can't tell him what to do, we're urging him to do it. He has an authority now, he can do it without us. That's the picture that we're trying to make sure everyone understands in clarity. He can do this now. He's just won't. That's the problem."
