I’m a single father of four. A born and bred New Yorker. I work a steady job as a program analyst at the VA. My kids are 16, 9, 7 and 3 years old. I get them to school everyday and put food on the table each night. For the past year, my family has called a shelter home — driven here by domestic violence.
My family’s story is not unique, nor the product of a personal failure. They are the consequence of a system that punishes working families who started the race from behind the starting line.
With the stroke of a pen, Mayor Mamdani could change the trajectory of my family’s future.
CityFHEPS is a rental assistance program that helps families exit shelter and afford permanent housing. The CityFHEPS expansions passed into law by the City Council in 2023 raised income eligibility to 50% of the Area Median Income, meaning my family would qualify for a voucher. The only problem? Mamdani has backtracked on his campaign promise to implement these expansions — so my family remains stuck in the shelter system.
As a father, I won’t stop fighting for the future my kids deserve, especially when policymakers have the power to make a difference today. The mayor must honor his commitment to expand CityFHEPS eligibility.
A lot of the conversation around CityFHEPS is about the numbers. There’s some 7,000 thousand families like mine living in shelter that would qualify for vouchers and be on the path to permanent housing with expanded eligibility. A recent report by Win, the largest provider of family shelter in the city, found that the city could have saved more than $1 billion in shelter costs if CityFHEPS expansion had been implemented in January 2024, as the laws intended.
But behind the facts and figures are New Yorkers fighting for their shot to build a home of their own. Fathers like me who are working steady nine to five jobs and saving every penny we can. Mothers working two jobs just to put food on the table. Children craving a home of their own to return to after school each day.
We are your fellow New Yorkers — and we’re stuck in shelter — not by choice or bad decision, but because of a broken system that Mamdani had promised to fix. Instead, his administration is perpetuating the cycle of homelessness and keeping families like mine in shelter longer each day he refuses to implement the CityFHEPS expansion laws.
I do believe that the mayor has good intentions, but he is misguided in this decision. There’s a reason so many continue to stand behind CityFHEPS expansion, including housing advocates who work on these issues day in and day out. There’s a reason the City Council overrode Mayor Adams’ veto in 2023 to see these expansions written into law. There’s a reason New Yorkers like me continue to challenge the mayor to honor his commitment to implement these expansions. This program works, and for many hardworking families, it’s our only shot at getting out of shelter.
Mamdani has promised not just to implement CityFHEPS expansion, but to build a New York that works for all New Yorkers. Families like mine, living in shelter, are New Yorkers — and we’re waiting to see the New York City that Mamdani promised. A CityFHEPS voucher would give us a fighting chance. It’s time for the mayor to honor his commitment.
Sutton is a program analyst at the VA and father of four who has lived in a homeless shelter since July 2025.