Judith Goldiner, Attorney-in-Charge of The Legal Aid Society’s Civil Law Reform Unit, and Chloe Sarnoff, a public policy advisor at the Robin Hood Foundation make the case for Mayor Eric Adams to expanded access to CityFHEPS housing vouchers in a new op-ed for the New York Daily News.

The vouchers are currently used to help people move from shelters into permanent housing, but expanding eligibility to low-income households at risk of eviction would help keep families out of shelters to begin with.

“The majority of New Yorkers staying in homeless shelters simply need help paying their rent,” they write in part. “By expanding access to housing vouchers, the city can better use its resources to prevent unnecessary and harmful evictions, help homeless New Yorkers move into permanent housing, and improve housing security for everyone.”

Goldiner and Sarnoff also make the financial case for expanding FHEPS, noting that by keeping families out of the shelter system the City would actually save money.

Read the full piece here.