New mayor, same as the old mayor.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is fighting a City Council-led expansion of the Big Apple’s housing voucher program – an embarrassing reversal of a campaign promise on affordable housing that also continues the legacy of his predecessor Eric Adams.

Mamdani formally filed an appeal Tuesday in the state’s highest court, contending that council members were trying to “commandeer” authority over the program, known as CityFHEPS.

The appeal is the latest salvo in a war between the council and two different City Hall administrations over a 2023 law expanding cityFHEPS.

The law would make it easier to enter the rental voucher program and also increase income eligibility, potentially bringing in up to 50,000 new families at a cost of over $10 billion in the first five years.

But Adams, who argued the expansion would cost billions more than advertised, bitterly fought the law – first with a veto that was overridden, then with a court battle.

Last year, then-state Assemblyman Mamdani called Adams’ court crusade a “ridiculous waste of time during a housing crisis.” 

His campaign site also explicitly promised that “Zohran will drop lawsuits against CityFHEPs and ensure expansion proceeds as scheduled and per City Law.”

Once elected mayor, however, Mamdani began to change his tune – leading to his move to appeal the law.

The backlash from housing advocates was swift, with Christine Quinn – the president of Win family shelters, as well as a former City Council speaker and mayoral candidate – calling it a “betrayal” and broken campaign promise.

“Candidate Mamdani promised time and time again to drop this suit. This blunt reversal of that commitment is an abject failure when it comes to meeting the most basic needs of homeless families – the very population these vouchers are meant to serve,” she said.

“Without an agreement, City officials have failed to provide the reforms needed to meaningfully address homelessness and help families transition from shelter to permanent housing, as promised during the Mamdani campaign,” she added.

“The City’s lack of leadership means more families stuck in shelter, more trauma, and skyrocketing shelter costs for the City.”

Coalition for the Homeless executive director David Giffen argued Mamdani was only hurting the lowest-income New Yorkers.

“It’s dismaying to see Mayor Mamdani backtrack on his campaign promise to expand the CityFHEPs program, which would enable more low-income New Yorkers to leave shelters and find permanent housing,” he said in a statement.

“Filing this appeal raises the question of whether the Mayor believes that homeless New Yorkers are part of his affordability agenda.”

As lawmakers and progressive allies wailed over the housing flip-flop, Mamdani argued Wednesday that the city’s reputed $5.4 billion budget shortfall made expanding the costly voucher program fiscally irresponsible.

“If the city were to drop its appeal, we are speaking about an expansion that would then cost over $4 billion in the next few years alone,” he told reporters during an unrelated news conference.

Mamdani administration lawyers in their appeal decried the state of the “woefully underfunded” program, arguing it usurped the authority of city agencies to allocate public assistance.

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They argued the council’s law violates the “interconnected and inextricable chain of authority” between the city and the state, and are not allowed to write their own rules due to this “unique structure.”

“We have no doubt about the Council’s good motives, but the local laws are invalid,” their brief states.

Mamdani’s budget chief Sherif Soliman testified during a City Council hearing Wednesday that officials made the court filing to meet a deadline and preserve the chance to keep having a “good faith discussions” over the program’s future.

In turn, City Council Speaker Julie Menin argued the continuing litigation only will delay a settlement.

“We believe the administration should drop the litigation,” she said. “We’ve been saying this for months. Council is ready to reach a responsible settlement that protects vulnerable New Yorkers and at the same time is fiscally responsible.”

Mamdani, for his part, pointed fingers at Adams for allegedly leaving the city in dire financial straits. 

A former Adams administration official shot back that Mamdani’s about-face shows he has to face reality as mayor.

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” the officials said. “Campaigning on the voucher dream has run against financial truth.”