HPD Proposes Rules for New City Housing Assistance Voucher Program

What happened

HPD has proposed rules for a new rental assistance voucher program called the City Housing Assistance Program. The notice was published in The City Record on October 1, 2026. The rules would carry out Local Law 126 of 2026, which requires HPD to set up the program. The rules would be added as a new chapter 65 in Title 28 of the Rules of the City of New York.

Under the local law, half of the program's available funding each fiscal year would go to vouchers for households in rent stabilized housing who are facing eviction. The other half would go to households in shelters run by agencies other than DSS/HRA, and to households in DSS shelters who are not eligible for City FHEPS. The notice says a substantial portion of the shelter vouchers would go to households in each type of shelter.

HPD says it wants the program to run mostly the same way as its Housing Access Voucher Pilot Program, as set out in HPD's Rental Subsidy Program Administrative Plan. The proposed rules cover the application process and waiting list, eligibility, voucher issuance, approval of tenancies, housing assistance payments (HAP) contracts, maximum rents and utility allowances, income calculation, occupancy standards, renewals, denials and terminations, owner requirements, housing quality inspections, move-outs and administrative review. One stated rule: a household would no longer be eligible once 30 percent of its monthly adjusted income equals or exceeds the gross rent for the unit.

HPD will hold a virtual public hearing on November 2, 2026, from 10 AM to 11 AM. November 2 is also the deadline for written comments. People can comment through the NYC rules website, by email to [email protected], by mail, by fax, or by speaking at the hearing. Speakers get up to three minutes, and the hearing is for testimony only, not questions and answers.