New York Judge Sides With Mayor Adams in Lawsuit Over Housing Voucher Expansion

NEW YORK—New York City Mayor Eric Adams achieved a legal victory when a New York State Supreme Court judge on Aug. 1 blocked a city council-backed lawsuit that sought to force the city to expand a housing voucher program. In his five-page ruling, Judge Lyle E. Frank agreed with the mayor that the city council lacked any legal basis to compel enforcement of its expanded City Family Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (FHEPS) voucher program, mainly because of jurisdictional issues. The judge made clear that the question under consideration was not the eligibility of people seeking to claim FHEPS benefits under the program’s rules. Rather, it was whether the city council could advance a social service that legally falls within the domain of the state and the entity that the state chooses to carry out this function—in this case, the city’s Department of Social Services (DSS)....